The Hero's name
by FreakingOutGirl
Summary: Sequel to my Knowing the Past, Writing the Future. When Ichigo and Orihime think their lives are finally at peace with their little family, strange dreams assault the woman and some dark shadows might be surrounding the Kurosaki family from a past that everyone thought was settled down. Can they save their little heaven or the enemy is already between their walls?
1. Chapter 1 The begining

**Chapter 1 – The beginning**

**Chapter's music – Help, I'm alive by Metric**

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The woman was walking, shoeless and alone, through the shadows. She could feel the wetness under her fingers and the cold temperature was rising the fine hairs in her arms. Nonetheless, she couldn't use friction to warm herself, fearing to lose the contact with the wall in that world of abyss, because, right beside her, the passage ended in an abrupt cliff, surrounded by shadows, with a fatal fall as the only ending.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, her hands were cold and wet, her burrows furrowed in concentration, while her eyes tried to discern anything in front of her: any ray of hope or light that would help her saving herself from this dooming set. And then, she felt it, the missing rock under her foot, the emptiness of air under her searching toes, the slip of water… And she felt her foot lose the track she was walking over, sliding through the passageway, gravity winning over her body, making her fall into the darkness. She didn't scream; she was too shocked for that and when reality caught up with her, _she felt her eyes opening and a grinning face with spiked hair, smiling down at her from a higher position_.

The sunlight was almost blinding after the dark and oppressive atmosphere and she felt her eyes water quickly at the sudden changing.

"_Hi mommy_!" the boy said, seeing the woman with her eyes open. The woman suppressed a sigh of relief and felt her breathing calm down at the sight of her child.

"Katsuo!" she exclaimed, returning the smile with quivering lips. The dream felt so real that she was still scared of that fall. "What are you doing here?"

The boy jumped from her eyesight and the woman realized she was laying in her bed. Sitting up, she pulled the covers away and looked around. Everything was at its rightful place, but she couldn't stop herself from feeling something was not totally right, like something was amiss. Shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts, she got up and grabbing her son under his armpits, brought him against her chest.

"Where is daddy?" the woman asked, while the boy played with a lock of her hair.

"Downstairs, using his computer as a pillow…" Katsuo giggled when his mother sighed.

And, when they finished their descending, they really found a man asleep over his laptop. He was surrounded by piles of archives in peril stability, while his soft snores filled the, otherwise, silent living room. The window's curtains were open, illuminating the disarray of the place and the man's shocking hair color.

The woman sighed again and with a small smile tugging at her lips, she winked at her son and pointed to the sleeping man. The boy grinned and slowly grabbed a handful of his father's orange hair and pulled softly. The man grumbled and with a wondering hand tried to push the distraction away. Mother and son giggled softly and the boy kept pushing harder and harder until the man jumped to his feet, looking around with murderous intent.

"Hi baby!" the woman said, with a not so innocent smile.

"Hi daddy! Did you sleep well?" the boy asked, while his mother let go of him. The boy steadied himself right beside his mother's leg and waited for his father to regain his senses.

The glare on the man's face disappeared instantly when he found those two grinning faces and looking around, to the mess over the table, he blushed. He scratched the back of his head, trying to hide with the end of his foot a huge pile of files, under the dining table.

"I already told you not to overdo yourself! Do you want me to make you a curfew like Katsuo's?" the woman asked, with her hands in her hips. Katsuo giggled, imagining his daddy being commanded to go to bed, like he was. The older man frowned at his son, while the boy's smile grew wider.

"You're spending too much time with grandpa…" the man sighed, while closing the distance between him and the rest of his family.

"I'm sorry… but this case is taking more than I thought it would…" he said, while pressing his forehead against his wife's. The woman grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He felt her warm breathe against his lips and had to control himself before he grabbed her and made a run for their bedroom. The child between them wouldn't find that _really _funny…

"Ichigo…" the woman whispered. "Please, stop being Chief Kurosaki during this weekend…" and she didn't have to say any more for his face change to a guilty expression. He knew what she was thinking, and that was part of the reason he always emerged himself in work during this time of the year. He knew it wasn't fair for his son, but, in the end, he could always swallow that lump of pain, smile like a proud father and play with his son like there was no tomorrow.

"I promise, Orihime… This was the last minute during the weekend that I thought about work! Tomorrow will be perfect!" Ichigo replied, watching through the corner of his eye the observant expression of their son. The boy was following their conversation, trying to pick up what would be his surprise this year. When no one talked about it, the boy pouted, crossed his arms and huffed an annoyed sigh. Orihime locked her eyes with Ichigo's and they smiled inwardly.

June 17th would always be a challenging day for the Kurosaki family. It was their saddest and happiest day, when Masaki left, when Katsuo came. But thanks to that small ball of energy, the wounds that that day brought were starting to heal, slowly, but steadily.

However, when Orihime, after her son's birthday party, snuggled under the covers on her bed, laying her head over Ichigo's muscular chest, her tired mind made the woman return to that dark place once again. And even knowing that it was a dream, in the back of her mind, her clouded thoughts couldn't let go of that feeling of desperation.

Worse, she knew it wasn't the first time she dreamt of that. The dream had a sense of déja-vu, like she had walked through that path countless times, fell countless times and died countless times… Decided to understand that dream, she started writing in a journal whenever she had those nightly visions, describing them until exhaustion.

The dream evolved during the subsequent years, first she could only feel her own presence, then a man joined her, with his hand intertwined with hers, standing between the abyss and herself, then a child made his appearance, yelling at distance and for last a baby, wailing beside the wall of shadows… However, it looked like her mind was trying to suppress those visions, because, if it wasn't for her words in that journal, she wouldn't be able of remembering the scenes mere days after them… And after three years of reading her written passages, her mind came to a conclusion: June 16th, June 17th, June 18th… Those were the days when she would dream that strangely real nightmare and that deduction brought her a sense of foreshadowing, like she could feel that ball of energy starting to slip through her fingers, disappearing in a cloud of smoke and fog… behind those overpowering shadows…

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**So, what do you think of the first chapter? Did you liked it? Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2 Old Fears, New Fears

**Chapter 2 – Old Fears, New Fears**

**Chapter's music – Song for the waiting by Aron Wright**

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"Mom, I'm going to be late!" the boy's voice echoed through the house, while hurried steps could be heard over his head.

"I'm sorry! Hana had a bad night!" a woman's voice replied, while two long legs, in a flowery skirt, appeared on the stairs. She ran through the boy, into the kitchen and in less than a minute came back with his bento box fully prepared. The boy smiled when his mother had to pull herself to her full height to kiss him on the cheek. His height was something he was really proud and something he always made good use of during his basketball games.

"Tell aunt Tatsuki I won't go to the dojo today, okay? I have a group project, so I can't practice with her…" the boy said, hurriedly, while his mother bid him farewell. She nodded her head, watching until the orange head of her son disappeared behind a turn on the street.

* * *

Katsuo yawned loudly, winning a reproachable look from his teacher. _It wasn't his fault!_ His father only got home at five a.m., after his hollow patrol, long enough to take a shower, kiss his mother and worry worse than the woman about Hanako's health. He tried to get back to sleep, but it was like his mind couldn't let go of the images that plagued his thoughts whenever his father was away, sending spirits to Soul Society. He knew the older man didn't want him fighting beside him every night, but it was hard staying at home, studying, without knowing if he was ever going to see his father again. He trained at weekends with Ichigo, trying to develop his shinigami powers, but it was like he was always at the same stage. When he asked his father how he did his own training the man would frown darkly and grumble something incomprehensible, except the word _**never**_ and that was enough for Katsuo to understand that whatever his father did, he didn't want his son following those steps. But even knowing that his dad only wanted the best for him, it was still hard: he was stubborn and hot-headed, a bit like his father at his age, according with what his uncle Renji always remarked whenever he visited with his aunt Rukia. However, his father's ultimate words would always be the death of his pleadings to accompany him in his nightly watches: "_If something happened to me, who would protect your sister? Do you know the reason a big brother is born first, right? So he can protect the younger ones that come after him…"_ And it was for the love of his sister and his mother that he always bitten his retorts about the subject, letting his father walk away with a lighter heart, knowing that his family was safe and sound, together.

* * *

Part of the reason for Orihime's lateness, that morning, was really about her daughter's health, however another part of the guilt could fall over her newest nightmares, the ones that kept her awake a vast part of the night. They were the old ones that always plagued her mind during this time of the year, however, this time they came earlier, almost two weeks before the normal first day of a sequence of three sleepless nights. They were starting to take her under their horrific spell for a longer time, making the screams of her family unbearable, mixed with other whispering and threatening voices, while she fell into that endless hole of pitch black. In all those years she never reached the bottom, but something told her if she did, it would be extremely painful, if not deathly… So, whenever she opened her eyes she would find herself tangled in her sheets, sometimes with the worried eyes of her husband over her bundled form. He knew about her nightmares; after her discovery of the pattern she told him, not wanting more lies between his protective instinct and her sense of independence, so, every time she woke from them he would sooth her, whispering sweet words into her ear until she fell asleep again. But, this night, he wasn't at home, so she had to get herself together alone for her and her daughter, even if every shadow on her homely hallway looked like it was trying to swallow her.

Staying with Hanako that day, until she was sure the little girl was alright, kept her mind away from those dark thoughts, however, when her daughter fell asleep on the couch, those pushed aside contemplations came back in full force and she felt really scared for the first time since she had that nightmare, all those years ago. She couldn't explain what she was feeling, but she didn't like one bit that something like a nightmare was having such an impact over her being. She was no longer that child, scared of the dark; she was a grown up woman, mother, wife, warrior, protector, healer, she had to put herself together and honor the confidence her family and friends had in her.

* * *

Later, at night, while Orihime was skipping and humming a melody through her kitchen, cutting some lettuces to make dinner for her almost starving children, she could hear them guffawing in the living room, watching some funny movie: her son's roaring laugh and her daughter's soft giggle. Her daughter's fever had gone down during the previous hours and apparently normality was back into the Kurosaki household. The woman felt a huge smile take control over her lips and even the bowl in which she was making the salad looked shinier than normal. She felt so peaceful in those moments, that it seemed impossible to be frightened about a dream… Until a sudden reiatsu took over her senses, making her hands shook violently and letting the bowl fall, creating an explosion of glass into thousands directions. She felt the sharp cuts in her legs, but she couldn't make herself worry about that. That painfully familiar reiatsu swallowed all of her previous happiness, making her shiver and run, desperately, to the living room. However, when she passed the threshold of the door the energy disappeared so suddenly like it appeared and she could only feel the sweet and young reiatsu of her children.

"Mommy?" Hanako called, looking at her mother with apprehensible eyes. The woman's face was pale and cold sweat ran through her temples, making her shiver.

"Mom!" Katsuo shouted, seeing his mother's legs colored with red, while the blood ran through her skin.

Orihime shook herself out of her stupor at her kids' troubled voices and felt her body being dragged to the sofa, so she could heal herself. Katsuo and Hanako observed while their mother erased her cuts, worried about her absent eyes that repeatedly, with a gap of a few seconds, would jump to every corner of the room.

"Is everything alright?" the teenaged boy asked, grabbing his mother's hand. While relying in the warm of that familiar hand, she could feel her seven years old daughter watch them with so much worry that her heart squeezed in a painful manner, so, grabbing all her strength, she made her lips turn upward in a smile.

"I'm sorry, kids! I don't know what happened; I must have dozed off again… You how your old mother is…" she replied, in a fake happy tone, that she expected was believable enough to obliterate that worry from her youngsters' faces.

However, being the son and daughter of who they were, they couldn't be deceived so easily and when their mother got back to her work, at the kitchen, they observed her with apprehensive eyes, making excuses to keep a watchful eye over the healer.

When Ichigo got home, he found his wife and kids wearing uncomfortable expressions and only when they saw him, part of that tension lifted from their shoulders. The man frowned, observing how his wife kept looking around in a nervous movement, through the dinner and how Katsuo volunteered to wash the dishes, while Hanako brought some easing tea to her parents.

However, only when Katsuo and Hanako were safely tucked under their covers, Orihime told her husband what happened during his absence. She watched as her words brought a furious expression into his face and how he grabbed instinctively his shinigami badge.

"It disappeared just like that?" Ichigo asked, when Orihime fell silent. She nodded and felt the temperature in the room decrease. She shivered and her husband surrounded her frame with his muscular arms.

"I might be being silly, it could be just my imagination…" she whispered, in a hopeful tone. She could feel Ichigo's jaw over the crown of her head, nodding, and she knew he was sharing that same hope. "I had a dream last night and maybe it took over my mind…" Orihime said, playing with part of Ichigo's hair.

"Yes, it can be just that!" Ichigo agreed, quickly, eager to find an alternative to a possible fearful future.

"If something like that happened we would be the firsts to know… But, tomorrow morning I will talk with Urahara and see if he knows anything about it…" Ichigo said in his chief-mode fully on.

"No!" Orihime replied and Ichigo distanced his face from hers to look into the woman's eyes. "_We_ are going to see Urahara-san!" she concluded, peremptorily. Ichigo rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything nonetheless.

"We should call Chad, thought, so he can keep an eye over the kids…" Ichigo suggested and Orihime agreed immediately. It pained them in unthinkable ways just imagining their children living in constant fear.

All they had in that moment was the hope that it was only a mistake, an innocent and innocuous mistake.

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**So? What do you think?**


	3. Chapter 3 Kisuke's distress

**Chapter 3 – Kisuke's distress**

_**Chapter's Music – Open Arms by Gary Go**_

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Urahara Kisuke was a man of many resources, always a step ahead of ordinary people; nevertheless, when Kurosaki Orihime told him her experience of last night he was left speechless. For some minutes after she ended her narration, the smoke rising from his cup of tea kept him entertained, like it was one of the greatest mysteries of the universe.

"Are you saying that you felt…?"

"Yes!" Ichigo replied for Orihime, after her four previous answers. _Seriously, how many times did the man have to ask the same question?_

The man was rubbing his stubble, with a contemplative look, while the couple grew more anxious within the minute.

"I have no idea of what might have happened!" he finally said, with a shrug of his shoulders, while his fan hided partially his face.

Ichigo felt his irritation rise and not for the first time thought about make a run for that fan and burn it in front of its owner. He just didn't have the excuse of being a two year old kid, like his daughter was when she grabbed Urahara's old fan and sent it flying through the window…

"Are you sure you're not pregnant, again, Orihime-san?" Urahara asked, with an innocent-like smile. "It's about time you named a kid after me, you know…"

"If that ever happens I will lock myself in a prison for such crime!" Ichigo replied in a dark mood and Urahara snickered.

"No, I'm sure about that… besides, there's something else…my dreams came earlier this year…" Orihime confessed and Ichigo looked at her, surprised: last night she talked about a dream, but didn't say it was _the_ dream.

"The one you always have in your son's birthday?" Urahara replied, in a much serious tone. Orihime nodded and he closed his fan with a thump.

"I didn't hear anything from Soul Society regarding the matter and I'm sure they wouldn't try to hide such worrisome evidence, especially with your friends nagging them if that was the case…" Urahara nibbled his lower lip and finally raised his voice to call Yoruichi.

The woman, in cat form, appeared through the window, like she was hearing their conversation the entire time, from the roof. And probably, she was.

"You know what to do, right?" Kisuke asked and the cat nodded her head.

She passed the couple, winking at them, while saying "I will find out what is going on and until then, try to relax…" but seeing their faces, she rolled her eyes and knew it was an unmanageable task.

"Now, what I can suggest is telling your friends what happened, so they can be prepared and always know where your kids are… If something like that ever happen, they would be primal targets…" the man, in the stripped green hat, advised.

"Like we needed you to tell us that!" Ichigo replied, fuming, until Orihime grabbed his arm in a warning manner.

"We know, Urahara-san, and we thank you for your help!" she said, while Ichigo crossed his arms. The couple got up, with Orihime bowing respectfully and Ichigo grumbling against her cordial actions.

* * *

"Tessai!" Kisuke called and the affable giant appeared in the threshold.

"Yes, boss?" he asked, while entering the room.

"Can you send a message to Nelliel and Grimmjow requesting their presence here, please? And tell them to come with Yoruichi…" Urahara said, while his old friend creased his eyebrows.

"Boss, is something wrong with Orihime-san and Ichigo-san? Or is it the children?" Tessai questioned, observing Kisuke with narrow eyes.

"Do you remember what I said those years ago about a time when maybe we had to face old mistakes in a new light?" Urahara replied, watching the other man's eyes distance themselves from that place, bringing him to the past, for some moments.

"Yes, I do recall that…" Tessai whispered, while his body slumped next to his manager. "Do you think…?" there was no mistake in how worried Tessai's voice was.

* * *

"I don't know how you can be always so nice to him. That man is so… _ugh_!" Ichigo grumbled, when they were walking back home to which Orihime smiled uncertainly.

"He is… different, but he cares about us and I know he will do anything to protect Katsuo and Hana…" Orihime replied, wisely, after some thoughts on the matter.

The man repeated her words in his head and had to agree with her; even being a creepy old man, always with sketchy ideas and strange plans, Urahara Kisuke never tried to deceive them in a prejudicial way, "_At least, until now…_" Ichigo concluded in his head.

The substitute shinigami muttered an agreement to his wife's words in such an opposing tone that Orihime laughed and her husband's face smoothed. He kissed her head and sighed.

They were walking beside the river so, guiding her to the stairs that ended right before the water, they sat themselves over the green grass, watching the shining liquid run freely through its course.

"I don't want to fight anymore, I'm tired of wars… These last years of peace lulled me into a hopeful dream of being able to raise our children in a world without pain and sorrow, but now…" he whispered and felt Orihime's shoulders drop.

"Me too… I just wish we could close our eyes and enjoy the sun without any fear of everything being stolen from us…" the woman replied, letting her head fall against her husband's chest.

"But, even wanting that… I know I can't turn my back and walk away. There's too much at stake, too much I can't bear to loose…" Ichigo said, tightening his hold on her waist.

"Knowing what you can't bear to lose you know what I can't bear to loose either…" Orihime reacted and Ichigo knew what she was trying to say. "If there's some truth in our fears I will be beside you this time, fighting like any shinigami you know!" and her tone became fiercer. "I will be able of help you out, help our friends! I trained for years and years and even if I didn't want to say that out loud, my mind always knew that those small fights had a bigger purpose!" her old fear of seeing her son, so much like his father, in bloody clothes resurfaced stronger than ever _and damned be her if she wouldn't do everything she could to stop that image from turning real._

Ichigo understood her feelings. He watched, through their years together, how she would observe him intently, memorizing his movements, working her own powers to be as fierce as possible. He knew that since she was a mother those feelings of protection increased hundred times, since it happened to him as well. Their kids were the most important things in their lives and they would die if it was needed just to protect them from those bloodied battles. He couldn't bear the vision of his sixteen years old son fighting like he did when he had the same age, he couldn't bear the image of his daughter screaming in pain, while trying to fend for herself… Such dark thoughts were starting to take control over his mind and he had to bring Orihime closer to his body, so he could reassurance himself that he was with her beside the river, over green grass and not in a place painted with the red of his children's blood.

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**So what do you think? Please review! **


	4. Chapter 4 The storm is coming

**Chapter 4 – The storm is coming…**

_Chapter's music – Strange time by Black Keys_

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The morning was sunny, with the blue sky sending a feeling of quiet tranquility until a yell erupted the peace of the 10th Division Barracks.

"He wants what?" Toshiro replied, while his lieutenant collapsed over his couch, like she had ran for miles.

The white-haired captain was up; his chair lay on the floor, consequence of his sudden explosion. All his paperwork was forgotten to the prospect of such strange and suspicious news.

"Urahara wants a meeting with Grimmjow and Nell in the world of the living, as quick as possible…" Rangiku repeated in a bored tone. She crossed her arms under her head and closed her eyes, ready to take a nap. Her captain's eyes flicked and the vein on his forehead pulsed with fury.

"Get up! If he wants to talk with them something must be happening! Find out if the Kurosaki family is alright!" Toshiro commanded, while the blonde woman sighed. There goes her nap through the window.

"I already did that! I talked with Rukia and Renji and they told me everything was alright, apparently not even the commander knew what that scientist wants with them…" Rangiku replied, looking over the back of the couch. The captain rearranged his chair neatly and sat again, a look of contemplation over his expression.

He looked at his desk, filled with piles of papers, his writing material neatly stocked inside a wood box, until his eyes fell over a small, colored paper. He took it from the pile of files and observed it for large moments. A large white and blue dragon, with folded wings, was resting over a cliff, looking down into the waves of the ocean. He could see the firm black ink of the drawing, making it look almost like a window to another dimension, and then, in child-like art the coloration of the figure.

"Damn, damn, damn!" he said, looking at the two signatures in the right corner of the paper.

And then, putting the drawing down, he got up, readied his zanpakutou's strip around his chest and opened a large drawer, where two boxes rested. He turned to look at Matsumoto, his hands resting over the upper box. For a few moments they looked at each other in silence; she knew that look, so it wasn't a surprise when the boy took the box out, labeled with "Urahara Shoten – Gigai" and told her he was going to have a view over the world of the living, specifically Karakura Town.

"Wait!" she yelled. "I have shopping to do!" and with a jump from the couch, she ran to the drawer to take the extra box out.

* * *

"His reiatsu is normal…" Hitsugaya said, while Rangiku, beside him, looked bored.

She was leaning against the big fence, her arms crossed over her chest and her cheeks puffed out.

"Captainnnn, let's kidnap Katsuoooo!" she said, in a happy-go tone, grabbing the boy's arm. Toshiro looked at her, like she was insane and shook his head in desperation.

"Geez, what a sour face!" she complained, while, at a distance, a bell echoed and the school's doors opened. They watched the mob of students reaching them, searching for a tall sixteen years old boy.

When the humans saw the white-haired boy with an icy expression over his face and the busty woman, almost jumping on the spot to see over the uncountable heads, they stopped in their tracks, surprised for such an eccentric sight. Rangiku, spotting the Kurosaki boy through the normal colored heads, started waving enthusiastically, without noticing how Hitsugaya was slowly creating some distance between the two of them. Katsuo's eyes almost popped out of his head, seeing the two shinigamis in human attires. He tried to pretend he didn't noticed them, but when the blonde decided to yell his name, he felt all the eyes of his colleagues fell over him. Starting running like there was no tomorrow he passed the shinigamis, grabbing their wrists and yanking them behind him, leaving his friends in a cloud of dust, with snooping faces.

"What the hell are you doing in my school? With those clothes?" he yelled, when they stopped in front of Hanako's school. He was pointing at Rangiku's ridiculously short skirt and blouse. She laughed and messing with his hair, said he was just like his father concerning her feminine attributes. The boy didn't even want to imagine what his father might have suffered in the woman's hands, but before he had time to ask anything, they felt a warm and excited reiatsu approach them, grabbing their attention.

"Katsuo-nii!" they heard a soft giggling voice call and turned around to see a girl, with two long braids running to them. The reiatsu they felt previously engulfed them when the girl closed the distance between them.

"Hana!" Rangiku squeaked, crouching to grab the girl under her armpits and bring her against her chest. The girl laughed against the woman's neck and when she felt her feet touching the ground again, ran to hug Toshiro as well. The boy patted her head affectionately while Rangiku beamed at the sight of her captain all mushy over the small girl.

"Look!" he said, taking from his pocket a small pendant of crystal in a form of a ballerina. The girl squealed, clapping her hands and bringing the ballerina, with careful hands, closer to her eyes to see the way the light shined over the translucent surface. "Don't worry, it won't melt…" he said, when the girl looked at the sun and at him with a worried expression. Her face opened in a bigger smile and he felt a small beam grace his lips.

"It's really nice seeing you, but what are you doing here?" Katsuo asked, when they started walking, with Hanako hand in hand with Rangiku.

"Just passing by…" Toshiro replied, before his lieutenant could say anything that would blow their real intentions. He watched the boy's shoulders loose some of its tension and thought that maybe things were not as peaceful as they assumed.

"How are your parents?" Toshiro asked, when they approached the Kurosaki household.

"Good, they are alright…" Katsuo answered and the two shinigamis noticed how the two siblings quickly diverted their eyes from them.

"That's good…" Toshiro replied, awkwardly.

An awkward and oppressive silence filled the rest of their walk and the younger ones couldn't hide their relief when they saw their house's door. Biding their farewells, they almost run into the house and when the door closed, Toshiro and Rangiku locked their eyes in a silent understanding. Something was definitely not right…

* * *

Walking swiftly to Urahara's shop, the pair found the owner engaged in a ravenous battle of cards with Tessai, who smiled respectfully to the newcomers, while Urahara barely spared them a brief look.

"Urahara, we need to talk!" said Hitsugaya, in his captain-like voice.

"Yes, yes, I know why you are here, but my intention of speaking with the Arrancars is merely scientifically. The truth is I'm starting an experiment about the hidden metabolism of Arrancars under the influence of Orihime-san's powers, which I would think would be a great advantage in understanding how quick can they recover from an injury or even from death…" Urahara said, without taking his eyes from his cards.

The two shinigamis looked at the former captain with apprehension in their eyes, not convinced at all that he was telling them the truth. It looked like a perfect explanation, too perfect to be exact… Like it was a rehearsed speech made with the expertise of a master mind, which they knew Urahara was, of course…

"Besides, you shouldn't be worried about that, Captain Commander already gave me his approval, and I'm waiting for them at any moment…" he concluded, finally looking at the tenth division's two highest ranks.

Captain Hitsugaya frowned, not liking at all of those secretive matters. The two Arrancars were under Seireitei's jurisdiction, and according to the law, all the captains should be heard in these kinds of matters. And apparently, this time they weren't even told anything about the subject at hands, if it wasn't for Matsumoto's noisy nature and her cunning way of hearing private conversations he wouldn't know anything about the matters.

"Captain, maybe we should return…" Rangiku advised and her superior nodded, with an icy flame in his eyes.

"If you're hiding something of important matter from us, putting any lives in danger, you will be held responsible for it as any other person would, do you understand? No excuse for being a former captain or a victim of Aizen's devices this time!" the white-haired captain stated, with a tone of threat lingering on the air, before turning his back on the blonde one, get out of his gigai and drawing his zanpakutou to create a passage to Soul Society. When they got into Seireitei, he immediately left his lieutenant and marched into the Head Captain's barrack, without worrying about getting rid of his gigai on the way. Rangiku followed his disappearing form with her eyes and sighed. A storm is coming, she could feel it in the air, in the wind, in the way her captain's shoulders tensed when they left the younger Kurosaki in their home…

* * *

The senkaimon opened with a soft sound, almost in the precise spot where, half an hour earlier, the two shinigamis left to Soul Society. The people inside walked out of it with wary expressions and when the man in a hat and clogs came to greet them in such an enthusiastic way they felt tempted to back off and run back to Seireitei. The exception was a purple-haired woman that yawning circled their tension-radiating frames swiftly and entered the house in front of them with familiarity, leaving them to the weird looking man. Nonetheless, the male and female followed him into his hoary shop, looking around with curious eyes: they had never set foot into this part of the world of the living and looking into the shop, with its disorganized boxes filling the floor and a feeling of threatening in each shadow, they were quickly rethinking their decision.

They walked thought endless corridors and for more than one time, they thought the man was making them walk in circles just for his own gibe. When the man finally guided them into one of his rooms, the male visitor slumped against the wall, while cracking his knuckles in boredom. The female rolled her eyes at his show of impatience and sighed, regretting coming with him.

Tessai walked behind them, with a tray of fuming cups of tea in one hand and put it over the round and small table in the center of the room. His boss was observing him and when everything was settle down, opened his fan and made his blonde hair wave with the air's movement. Tessai bowed and retreating closed the door softly.

"So, what the fuck are we doing here?" the blue-haired arrancar asked petulantly, when they were finally alone.

"Pleasuring me with your company…" Urahara said ironically, while grabbing one of the cups from the table and moving the others to rest in front of his companions.

Grimmjow made question of getting up before Kisuke pierced him with a glare that made him back way. He huffed, while crossing his arms and looked daggers at the man.

"I have a very worrisome subject to discuss and I would thank you if you would answer me the most truthfully possible!" Urahara asked, while sipping a bit of tea. "Now tell me, what really happened between the time Inoue Orihime went to Hueco Mundo and her rescue party got there?"

Grimmjow looked up with surprised eyes, clearly not imagining what importance such an old thing could have, while Nelliel looked at her companion with arched eyebrows, noticing the grave voice the former shinigami used to make such question.

"She healed my arm, I think Aizen showed her the Hogyouku, they took her to her cell and that's it…" Grimmjow said, shrugging his shoulders.

Urahara looked at him with piercing eyes and the arrancar understood his explanation was not enough for the man. There was something more that he wanted to know, something that probably explained their actual position in the world of the living. For moments he thought about lying, telling he couldn't remember, but Aizen never did anything for him,_ fuck, he even put **that** bastard in **his** place!,_ so why wouldn't he show him the same courtesy?

"I saw her, once, being taken to Aizen's laboratory, asleep… it happened probably two hours before they entered Hueco Mundo and whatever he did, no one knew, not even Ulquiorra…" Grimmjow said. "No wait, there was someone with Aizen…" he remembered. "But it's impossible talking to him…"

"Try me…" Urahara said, with a famished glint in his eyes.

* * *

**I'm so sorry for such a late update, but my friends took me to an unexpected vacation and I didn't have my computer with me, so please, forgive me. **

**I know this can be a little confusing, but everything will be explained in its due time.  
**

**Please, read and review! ;)  
**


	5. Chapter 5 Father and Son

**Chapter 5 – Father and Son**

_Chapter's music- Shooting the moon by Ok Go_

* * *

Ichigo was typing furiously a report in his computer, when a familiar reiatsu approached his work station. Jumping to his feet, he almost ran to the orange-haired teenager that was walking slowly to his office.

"Hey dad!" the boy said, before his father grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, looking for injuries.

"What happened? Are you ok? Is something with the girls?" Ichigo enquired, anxiously. Katsuo licked his lips and pointed to something behind him. Ichigo looked over his shoulder and saw how his small daughter was looking happily at a wanted poster. He was so worried that he didn't felt her reiatsu under her brother's stronger one.

"I don't know if everything is alright… Uncle Toshiro and Aunt Rangiku came to us today, saying they were just passing by… I don't know, but they looked weird…" Katsuo replied, both of them observing as Hanako tried to copy the criminal's face into her notebook. It looked like the boy was trying to say something else: biting his lip like his mother did when she was nervous, flexing his fingers in a nervous pattern, looking at his father like he wanted the older man to read his mind…

Ichigo was at a total lost to what his son was trying to say, but something was pretty clear, the boy was not ok!

"Katsuo, are you alright? Are you feeling good? Can I bring you water or...?" Ichigo asked, seeing his son's face turning paler.

"I don't…" Katsuo tried to say, before falling unconscious. His father grabbed him before he touched the ground, cradling his head against his chest and in the middle of raising and questioning voices, was able of finding a way through the mob surrounding him, with the help of his furious scowl and some barked orders and bring his son to the infirmary, with a small girl right behind them, clutching her unfinished drawing and observing the two men with veiled eyes.

* * *

"_**I already told you that I'm fine!**_" Katsuo almost yelled, when his father tried to stop him from getting up.

"Lower your voice; you're scaring your sister!" Ichigo advised, observing behind him a troubled looking Hanako.

"You're the one scaring her!" Katsuo replied. "I'm fine and I'm going home right now!"

Ichigo stepped back, surprised. It was the first time his son spoke with so many disregard for his authority as a father: they were always playing around and training together, but not once, after Ichigo used that kind of tone that clearly said "Do as you are told or you will be grounded until you are thirty!" his son replied in such a way. He wondered if that was the way his own father felt the first time he answered him with that attitude.

"We are going home!" Katsuo said, retreating from the infirmary bed. He extended his hand to Hanako, but the girl observed it with queerly eyes, and crossed her arms.

"Wait, I will drive you home!" Ichigo said, with no opening for his son's refusal.

Katsuo scowled watching Hanako grab Ichigo's hand with ease, and the three of them walked out of the infirmary and into the building's elevator.

The ride home was an uncomfortable one. Katsuo spent the entire time arms-crossed and looking outside the window, ignoring the rest of his family. Ichigo kept chewing on his lips and tapping the wheel in nervous movements of his fingers. Hanako looked between her father and her brother with a knowledgeably look, too much wise for someone so young; Ichigo used to say she got the best of her mom: the ability to read everyone's soul, like it was her own.

When the car stopped, Katsuo jumped from his seat, without looking back and closed the door with a violent punch. Ichigo glowered at his retreating form, but when he was ready to go after him, an old fear caught up with his mind: was he doing the right thing? Was he being a good father? A responsible, trustful one? One that his children would look up when they needed someone to support them? He gripped the wheel and let his head fall against the rubbery material. Only when a small hand gripped his shoulder in a warm way, did he look back to his sweet daughter that was watching him with a sad smile.

"Don't worry daddy, Katsuo is just being…" she tried to say, but apparently not even she knew what Katsuo was being in that moment or there were no words in her vocabulary to express her ideas so, deciding that a hug was a better approach, she climbed through the seats and surrounded her father's neck with her tiny arms.

"I love you…" he whispered against her auburn locks and when she withdrew, he could see his eyes in his daughter's face shining back at him with comfort.

* * *

"Hey, can I come in?" a soft voice asked, behind a closed door.

The boy looked up from his book at his mother's question, and with a quick "_Yes!_", saw the doorknob turning and the door opening, coloring his almost entirely dark room, with the exception of his lamplight, with the light of the hallway.

Orihime walked silently through the room and sat at her son's bed, while the boy turned his face, with a guilty expression, back to his book. She could only see half of his face, illuminated by the small light, while the other half was immersed into the shadows. She didn't say anything, letting the silence stretch uncomfortably, like the arms of an octopus.

Katsuo sighed and finally turned to face his mother.

"Dad told you about what happened, right?" he asked, to which Orihime simply nodded.

The boy released a long breathe and drowning his fingers through his messy hair, fixated his eyes on the floor. And it was to the floor that he spoke.

"I didn't want to see dad with that face…" he said. And feeling his mother's confusion, kept explaining. "When I woke up he was looking at me with shining eyes, do you know what I mean?" Katsuo asked and Orihime understood what his son was trying to say.

To him, Ichigo never showed any weakness, he was always the brave hero, the valiant father, the fearless shinigami, the intrepid investigator. Kurosaki Ichigo never cried in front of his children, they didn't know how he cried when they were born, he concealed it from Katsuo when Hanako was born, only letting Orihime see how tearful those two small beings left him, because she was the only one he trusted with all his quirks and faults, all his weaknesses and fears… So, just like the first time she saw Ichigo crying it shocked her senseless, she could imagine how her son could feel. Being the son of who he was, he was probably blaming himself for bringing that kind of feeling into his beloved father's heart.

"I don't want to see him like that and I don't want him to think I'm not strong enough, I don't want him always worried about me… I want to be able of protecting you and Hanako and even dad if he ever needs me to! I want to be able of following his words: "Do you know the reason a big brother born first? So he can protect the younger ones that come after him!" I don't want to…" but Katsuo cut himself before he finished his sentence. Orihime looked at her son, curiously, but the boy had his mouth shut firmly and looked like he wasn't going to say anything else. She wondered what else was swirling through his mind to bring such a sad expression into his face, but she knew he wasn't going to tell her, at least not tonight.

"Katsuo!" someone called from the door frame and the boy jumped. He didn't feel his father's presence until now, because the man was, probably, hiding his spiritual pressure. Orihime, however, had a lingering smile over her lips to which the man rolled his eyes, teasing. She was always able of feeling his presence, even if no one else could, even if Ishida, the self-proclaimed master of sensing reiatsu, wasn't able of.

"Hey dad…" the boy replied, sheepishly. He quickly averted his eyes when Ichigo entered the room.

Orihime looked from one male to the other, and using dinner as an excuse, left the men to his own hitches. She lingered for some moments outside the door, hearing Katsuo's bed shift under Ichigo's weight. Deciding she should let them work it out together, she left to find what mischief her daughter was making.

"Katsuo…" Ichigo said and for some moments their eyes found each other, until the youngster repeated his earlier movements and concentrate his vision on the floor.

"I heard what you said to your mother… and… I know how you're feeling… and… why you're feeling like that…" Ichigo whispered, linking his fingers with an absorbed expression. "I wish I didn't, however…"

Katsuo looked up, surprised at the pain in his father's voice.

"The first time I saw my father cry was when the police brought me home, after someone found my mom and I…" Ichigo confessed, with absent eyes, like he could see the scene unfold in front of him. It was so long ago that only when his son confessed his own feelings did he remembered his own painful experience.

* * *

**_He felt so small, surrounded by those strangers._**

**_The only thing he could think about was the blood, the rain, the river, the last scream his mother released…_**

**_He didn't know he was home until one of the cops knocked on the door and his father appeared, with a goofy smile on his face. When he saw his son and the two policemen, the smile melted away and his entire frame shook, like it could take only a breathe to make him fall. He didn't ask; he already knew… Only something like that could bring such a haunted look into his son's otherwise cheery face. Only something like that could make the cops look at him with such pity in their eyes._**

**_Ichigo saw his father's knees shook and crumble beneath him. He tried to run, to help, but it looked like his legs couldn't answer his commands. They were stiff, like iron bars. He saw how the man fell against the threshold, how he closed his eyes and screamed a hollow grieving sound…_**

**_He felt how, after some seconds, he looked at him with something as desperation and brought him against his chest, squeezing him against his ribs. The policemen traded uncomfortable expressions and, in hurried voices, informed the man of where his wife's body was and what happened, almost running when they finished. The pain of the man and the boy was too much to bear, the child's face would haunt them for some time and they didn't want the man's face to join his son in their dreams that night. It was hard telling someone those news, but seeing such a happy man scream like a small baby taken from his mother, was one of the most heart-breaking scenes they ever witnessed._**

* * *

"But, after that scene I realized one thing: my father was human. He had faults like everyone else,_ damn he is totally insane for crying out loud!_, he wasn't always smiling and cheerful… During the next months he was always at the verge of crying, whenever he looked at your aunts. He wondered, I think, how he could take care of three small kids with anyone to help…" Ichigo sighed and looked up, surprised when he felt two arms encircle his frame.

"I'm sorry, dad!" Katsuo whispered. "I'm sorry that you grew up without grandma, I'm sorry that you couldn't have a normal life, I'm sorry that I was such a brat today!"

Ichigo smiled softly at his son's words and returned his embrace. He felt so good, so in peace with his son in his arms, the boy protected from all the evil in the world that his conversation with Orihime, beside the river, felt like it happened in another lifetime.

* * *

**Super daddy Ichigo always melt my heart and Orihime being the bridge between those two when they fight really goes well with her personality, I think...**

**Well, what do you think? What are your thoughts about this chapter? Please, review!  
**


	6. Chapter 6 The Visitor

**Chapter 6 – The visitor**

_**Chapter's music – I'll love you so by Above the Golden State**_

* * *

"Something is happening with Kurosaki…" Toshiro grumbled, in a thoughtful tone.

His two companions looked at him, surprised, finally understanding why the white-haired captain called them at this time of night to a stroll.

The moon was shining over them and when, after the captain's meeting, the boy asked if they could accompany him, they accepted, wondering what could be inside the boy's head. His expression was a worried one, with his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Is Orihime-chan alright?" Shunsui asked, in an apprehensive voice. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about that night, all those years ago, when he saw her corpse laid inside one of the countless room of the 4th Squad Quarters.

"I don't know…" Toshiro replied, grumpily. "You heard what Captain Yamamoto said about Urahara requesting Grimmjow and Nelliel to go and meet him, right?" he asked to which both Captains nodded.

The both of them still shared their surprise, just like the first time they heard it, at the start of the meeting. It was something that kept all the captains intrigued, especially because their Commander didn't give any explanation to his or Urahara's actions.

"And you also know that we, as captains, should be asked about that, since they are under a special jurisdiction, right? Then why no one asked us anything? Trying to find out why, Matsumoto and I went to Karakura Town… Thanks to my lieutenant's nosy nature she was able of hearing a conversation between Nell and Grimmjow and so, we were able of getting there sooner than the Arrancars…" he informed the others captains, that looked at him even more surprised. Was this really the incredible formal captain that always followed the strictest orders? That only found someone worse than him in Byakuya? Was the case so worrisome that the boy broke some of theirs restrictions to go and investigate on his own?

"We meet the Kurosaki children and we noticed that they were hiding something, they were guarded against us, like they were trying to protect some secret…" Toshiro informed, in an uneasy tone, hoping they could grasp the emergency of the situation. "Something is not right in there, something that involves the Kurosaki family, the former-espadas and something that our commander knows about, or at least, is worried enough to let those two walk into the world of the living to meet with Urahara Kisuke! Something that even when I asked him he told me I was _seeing things where nothing was happening…_" when he shut up he was breathing quickly, like he had run for miles.

The other two looked like statues, with their eyes trapped into the same direction: Yamamoto's old mansion. What was the old man hiding from them, his two most faithful disciples? His two oldest companions? Was it something so dangerous that their master didn't want them involved? What dark secrets were luring behind them, this time? And most important, when the storm reaches them, would they be prepared to take the winds?

* * *

The shinigami was trying to walk away from the hidden spot, but acting recklessly left the reiatsu, previously so perfectly concealed, leak just a tiny bit, enough to grab the men attention.

Ukitake beamed at the newcomer, when the shinigami decided that it was useless running away and with a smile waved buoyantly, making Shunsui laugh out loud.

"You're definitely a handful!" the bearded man proclaimed with a booming voice.

"How much did you hear?" Toshiro asked, his arms crossed over his chest and a impressive expression over his face.

"Just the part about Rangiku's noisiness… You were talking too quiet, I just heard snippets of it… Something about the Arrancars, but nothing else…" the voice was sincere and even if it was a lie how bad could it be if they were heard? They weren't talking about secret meetings or other concealed details of their Captains' responsibilities, besides, it would be really soon until everything would leak out…

"Okay, now go home! It's no time to be wondering around, especially someone like you!" Ukitake said, pointing to a distinct direction.

"Yes, sir!" and with that, the figure blurred and flash-stepped away.

"That poor father…" Shunsui sighed and then laughed. "But it's so funny!"

* * *

"Hey, what are you doing around here?" Katsuo asked, when a girl with a reddish black fringe popped from a hovering roof, right beside him. She was wearing jeans and a hoddie, her long hair and the back of her head tucked inside the hood.

"I ran away…" she answered simply, shrugging her shoulders. Pulling the hood, she released her hair and let it sway with the soft breeze, keeping her pace with her arms behind her back and looking at Katsuo while walking.

The boy stared at her, mouth wide open, while the girl kept walking like she had no worry in the world. _Was she insane?_

"Your parents are so going to kill you!" Katsuo said, when his surprise disappeared and he ran to catch her.

"I don't care!" she replied, in a sing-a-song voice.

"**Kaoru!**" he replied, sternly. The girl finally stopped, looking into his face with strong violet-colored eyes.

"I'm here because of you, okay?" she replied, pocketing her hands in an awkward way.

"_Hum?_" Katsuo replied, incoherently.

"I heard Captain Hitsugaya talking with Captain Kyoraku and Captain Ukitake… they were talking about you and your family… They are worried that maybe something is wrong with your parents…" Kaoru said, without meeting his eyes. Yes, she had to lie to them when they found her, but it wasn't a big deal, sooner or later, she would have known, being her parents who they were.

Katsuo smiled softly, grabbed her chin and brought her face up, right in front of his own. He closed the distance between them with a lingering kiss that left the girl with a wide smile on her face.

"So, do you still want my parents to kill me?" she asked, when they intertwined their fingers.

"I never said I wanted that!" Katsuo replied, pulling her body against his own. "And happy birthday, by the way!" he said, kissing her temple.

"My birthday is not today!" Kaoru announced, clearly annoyed by his words.

"I know, but I also know that when your father finds you, he will lock this aired head of yours for the next thirty years or so inside your room, so I won't be able of seeing you!" the teenager said in a smug tone that made the girl scoff. He tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, but she snapped his hand away.

"You're so full of yourself!" she groaned, hitting his arm when he stole a kiss from her pouting lips.

"And happy birthday to you too, since I will be locked up it is better if I give you already your gift…" she said in seductive tone.

Katsuo blushed at her tone and when he felt her breath against his ear, had to swallow the desire of kissing her again.

"_**What do you think you're doing with my daughter, you punk!?**_" a male voice yelled, making both teens jump in surprise. They saw a blur of red and in an instant Katsuo was being pressed against a near wall.

"_**And what do you think you're doing with my son, you bastard?**_" another man screamed and Katsuo felt his chest free from the oppressive strength.

**"He was the one that started! He was all around Kaoru!"**

**"She was the one that was whispering in his ear!"**

**"What are you trying to say about my daughter, _you orange freak_?"**

**"What are you accusing my son of, _you tattooed pineapple_?"**

Kaoru didn't know if she should cry or laugh at the scene. All she intended was tease him a little, give him a peck, present him with the gift she had wrapped and was now residing inside her bag and nothing more, and now those idiotic that called themselves their fathers were ruining their moments together.

"**STOP!**" she yelled, with fury rising inside her. Her face was red, her fists trembling and her lips were drawn in a colorless line. And that was never a good sign. Katsuo backed away slowly, trying to save his own life from the wrath of his girlfriend.

"**You two just ruined everything! I was going to give Katsuo his birthday gift that I bought with MOM and nothing more!**" she kept yelling to her father, that was looking at her with wide eyes. She turned her back on him and marched away, grabbing Katsuo's hand on the way.

"**See? Now my daughter is angry at me! It's _your_ entire fault!"** her father yelled, behind Kaoru, and she knew who the destination of his screams was: Katsuo's father.

"**My fault? You're the one that thought they were doing something inappropriate! It's not my fault your kid is more mature than _you_!**" the other man screamed, without noticing the retreating forms of their children.

* * *

"Mom, I'm home!" Katsuo announced, when he opened the door of his house.

Orihime came bouncing from the backyard, with her arms full of flowers. She smiled at her visitor, putting the plants on the floor and running to hug the girl.

"Oh Kaoru-chan! It's been too long! My son was starting to get depressed without your company!" Orihime babbled, to her son's chagrin.

"_Mom_!" he whined, blushing furiously. The females laughed, and soon another two girly giggles joined them.

"Hi aunt Rukia!" Katsuo said, when the dark haired woman appeared, hand in hand with Hanako.

"So, where did you left those baboons of your fathers?" she asked, with a conspirator glance to Orihime. Katsuo had the strange impression that the women were talking about Kaoru and he just until moments ago, and when his sister opened her mouth he had his suspicions confirmed.

"So, did they find you making out?" she asked in an innocent tone that left the two women mortified.

"_Hanako_!" Orihime berated. "I thought I already told you not to hear grown ups' conversations!"

"But I wanted to know why you were laughing and besides, what means making out? Is it some kind of construction outside or…" Hanako trailed, thoughtfully, making the other four sweat drop. And the uncomfortable silence was only broken when the two men opened the front door, yelling for their respective child.

Hanako ran to her father's arms and Ichigo immediately forgot everything about his fight with Renji. The only thing he was worried about was hearing the girl's description of her class' new pet.

Renji marched to his wife's side, sending a dark glare to Katsuo, to which his daughter answered with her own.

"Do you know what I found those two doing?" he said, pointing a trembling finger to the two teenagers. Kaoru sighed and rolled her eyes at her father's antics.

"Making out?" Hanako suggested, making all the previous people in the room cringe.

"What the hell are you teaching my daughter?" Ichigo yelled, looking at Rukia. "Before you came she didn't know what that was!"

"But daddy, I still don't know what it is… I heard mommy and aunt Rukia talking in the kitchen!" the sweet girl said, blinking surprised at her father's reaction.

Ichigo sighed relieved and closed his eyes, trying to stop the migraine that he felt coming.

"Well, why shouldn't we have a tea and talk about the news in Soul Society? Rukia-chan was telling me all about your latest festival!" Orihime said, trying to dissipate the tension in the room. She smiled brightly and nudged her husband to make him sit on the couch.

"Yes, what a great idea!" Ichigo replied, tone dripping with sarcasm. Orihime frowned at him and he quickly retreated to the living room.

Renji grumbled, but Rukia grabbed him by the ear, making him follow her. The teenagers tried to snuck upstairs. But Renji grabbed Kaoru's wrist that grabbed Katsuo that followed the Abarai family with a dooming feeling.

When Orihime came back with the tray, she found an oppressive silence over her family and friends: Rukia was rolling her eyes, Renji was sending daggers at Katsuo, Ichigo was sending daggers at Renji, Kaoru was biting her lips in a furious way, Katsuo was looking at the white wall like it was a lost Da Vinci and Hanako was apparently studying them with her wise eyes, trying to understand the reason her uncle and her father were so mad at each other, and why her uncle was mad at her brother…

"Enough is enough!" Orihime exclaimed in a loud voice, putting down the tray with loud thump.

All the people in the room jumped, looking at her with surprised eyes. She knew she had to take the reins or her friends' visit would be a total failure.

"Katsuo and Kaoru-chan are dating! They love each other, and you and you" she pointed at Renji and Ichigo "should be happy that they found in each other their other half! You already found yours, so let them find that happiness in each other! Why are you treating this like a feudal war? Just be happy for your children! Support them and protect them from threats and not from bliss and love! They are strong enough to have each other's back, what do you want more than that?" Orihime asked, looking at the two men with a fierce expression. Beside her Rukia was beaming and Katsuo and Kaoru were smiling at her support.

"Orihime is right! What the hell do you want more than that? We know Katsuo, we know how a good kid he is, and I'll be damned if I wanted to see her with some playboy from Seireitei!" Rukia concluded, looking into Renji's eyes. He was also looking at her, thinking and rethinking her words, measuring them in his troubled father's mind.

"Why do we need to have this conversation every time you see them together, hein?" Rukia asked, with her hand in her hips.

Renji looked at his daughter's face, shining with apprehension. He dropped his shoulders in a losing gesture and Kaoru smiled.

"But, I don't want to see anything like that hug, kiss, whatever it was!" he commanded, looking not at his daughter, but at Katsuo. The boy nodded immediately, feeling his lips turn upward with the movement.

"Now, who wants some tea?" Orihime asked, with the smile of success in her face.

* * *

**Since I created Katsuo's character I always had this scene in my head where Renji and Ichigo are fighting because of him and Renji's kid in the most comical and fatherly way, so, Kaoru was born as the cause of that fight. Her name means fragrance and I believe it would be Byakuya's choise because of his bankai, and we know how Rukia loves her brother so much (yes, in my story the Vandenreich arc didn't happen); besides that reason, Kaoru was also named because of my favorite character from Rurouni Kenshin.  
**

**So, what do yout think about this chapter?  
**


	7. Chapter 7 Parental Issues

**Chapter 7 – Parental Issues**

_**Chapter's music – Love Hurst by Incubus**_

* * *

"So, that's why you came here?" Renji asked, when his daughter told them her real reasons for coming to Karakura Town.

They were silent, looking at the young girl while she played with a lock of her long hair. Saying what she heard out loud, just like the first time she talked with Katsuo, made the threat look so much realer that she had to keep herself from shivering. She wished Katsuo was there to embrace her…

"Urahara talked with the Arrancars with the Commander's approval? Without talking with the captains about that?" Rukia repeated slowly, like the words felt foreign in her tongue. It was clear what her eyes transmitted was much more than anger; it was fury at being kept in the dark at the expense of her friends' safety.

"Yes, according to what Captain Hitsugaya said…" Kaoru confirmed, in a serious tone.

"Well, he was the first one alerting Vice-Captain Hinamori that something might be wrong with Ichimaru Gin…" Renji replied, thoughtful. He was looking at Ichigo, trying to figure out what his friend really thought about the matter, but it was being harder than normal to decipher the man's emotions and that made him curious and worried at the same time.

"Do you think he might be right, once again?" Orihime asked, in a frightened tone.

The auburn haired woman didn't want to tell the couple what frightened her so much, she wanted them to have a clear mind to think about all the possibilities, without being biased with her information. But right now, keeping it from them was looking like a bad idea, so, breathing deeply, she asked if Kaoru could go upstairs and help Katsuo, not wanting to fill the girl's head with her own nightmares. She nodded, getting up and climbing the stairs, two steps at a time. When she felt her reiatsu far enough, Orihime sighed once again and grabbing Ichigo's hand for support, told them all about her fears, so her friends could know what was really going on.

* * *

Katsuo, already knowing the reasons that brought Kaoru to them, offered himself to take Hanako to bed. The girl was too excited for her own good. She wanted to stay with the grown-ups, listening to their conversation, but what his girlfriend told him, while they were walking home, was not something he wanted his little sister hearing. He wanted to shield her from their worries, letting her live in a world full of rainbows and dreams.

While she snuggled in her pillow, he patted her head softly, feeling her fine hair under his fingers. He smiled at her peaceful face, until he felt two arms surround his own frame.

"Hey!" she whispered, from behind him.

His smile widen and he turned around to kiss her forehead. She was resting her head right beside his arm, with her cheek pressed against his muscles.

"Your mother asked me to help you, but apparently you have everything under control…" Kaoru said, squeezing him against her body.

Katsuo smiled and, grabbing her hand, guided her, silently, outside the room. The hallway was blinding after the darkness of the room and Katsuo stopped for some moments to adjust his eyes. He sat on the floor, enjoying the silence that enveloped them. Their parents were too far away, so their voices couldn't reach them, it was like they were alone in the house.

"Man, I thought your father was going to castrate me downstairs…" Katsuo confessed when Kaoru sat beside him on the floor. She giggled silently.

"He can be an overprotective jerk…" she sighed. "But he is my overprotective jerkish dad, so that's kind of okay…"

"Well, when we have kids I would protect them just like that…" he said, without realizing his own words. Kaoru looked at him, stunned, and when he replayed his sentence in his mind, mortification took control over him.

"_I mean, when in some years, you know, if we are still together… I mean I don't want to break up… but it's no pressure… we are young… but it would be cool, you know… Oh God, why aren't you shutting me up?_" Katsuo asked, so red it looked like he had spent hours under the sun.

"It's was fun seeing you squirm like that…" Kaoru said, with a teasing smile. What she didn't say was that her heart was bumping against her chest, sending dreamy visions of their future together into her mind; visions that delighted and embarrassed her at the same time.

"I can't breathe with all the laugher." Katsuo replied, with a scowl in his face.

"You know, you are like you father when you scowl like that, it's really weird. When I look at him it's like I know what you're going to look in a few years…" she said, thoughtfully.

"And do you like what you see?"

"Gross, Katsuo! He is your father!"

"I thought you said he looked like me! Should I be offended by your comment?" he asked, with his eyes twinkling.

"Of course not. In his age you're going to be much more dashing!" Kaoru replied, laughing at Katsuo's smug expression.

"I missed being like this with you…" he sighed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She let her head drop over his chest, while intertwining their fingers together.

"Do you think Captain Hitsugaya is right? Do you think that maybe your family is in danger?" Kaoru asked, after some moments of silence. She was whispering, afraid of talking too loud and bring her bad presentiments against them.

She could feel his heart beating against her back. His warm breathe tickled her ear, while his free hand played with the small package she had given him earlier. She could feel his uneasy, how his heart quickened, how his frame moved uncomfortably.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Kaoru asked, turning around to face him. Katsuo dropped his eyes to the floor, to which the girl frowned her eyebrows.

"_You are_!" she confirmed, with barely suppressed anguish. "Why are you keeping things from me?" she asked, while backing away from his face and his luring lips.

Katsuo didn't return her question. He got up, leaving her alone on the floor and headed to the stairs, without looking back at least once. Kaoru watched him go, with her heart clawed by some irrational fear. There was something bad, something he thought was awful enough not to tell her, something that he was also afraid of: she could see it by the tension in his shoulders, how his eyes held some unidentified emotion all day, that she could now name as**_ dread_**, how, before start descending the stairs, he stopped for some seconds, like he was weighting his next actions. And it felt even worse that he choose to take those steps away from her.

* * *

"Are you really sure, Orihime?" he could hear his aunt's worried voice through the closed door of the living room.

"I wish I wasn't, but I couldn't make a mistake like that. Not after _everything…_" his mother chocked on her own words and the boy ran, headed to the room. If his mother needed his help he would be beside her in a second.

He burst through the door, leaving the adults inside looking at him, surprised.

"You really shouldn't burst like that. Someday you're going to destroy the door…" Ichigo advised in a light tone. He looked around, searching for his mother's face and saw how pale she was.

"Mom, are you alright?" he asked, kneeling beside her.

"Of course, honey! Why shouldn't I?" she replied, in a chirpy voice. The same chirpy voice she used to hide her tears whenever his father would come home with some injury that he couldn't heal with his next to nothing power to perform kiddo.

"Where is Kaoru?" Renji asked, when his daughter didn't follow the orange-haired teenager.

"Here, where else should I be?" Kaoru asked, entering the room with a smile on her lips. A smile that made Katsuo's insides squirm: it was the kind of smile that said: "_**You're so fucked up with me!**_"

"Well, we should be going back…" Renji suggested, eyeing his daughter with apprehension: he also knew that look and was afraid he might be the target this time.

"That's a good idea!" Kaoru agreed whole-heartedly. And without waiting for her parents, she headed to the front door.

Katsuo jumped to his feet and ran behind her. He caught her only outside of the house, when she sat in the garden bench to wait for her parents.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Is there any reason to be mad at _you_?"

Katsuo swore under his breath and kicked the bench. He turned his back on her and started to walk home, but then, rethinking his actions, he turned around and quickly closed the distance between them.

"I love you so much, please, you have to know that! If I'm not telling you something is not because I don't trust you, it's because I don't know how to explain!" he grabbed her face between his hands and brought her face to his. He could feel her cool breathe over his nose. "I-I… please, trust me! I'm going to tell you, I swear, it's just..."

"_**Not again!**_ What did I tell you?" Renji's voice boomed through the night air.

Kaoru felt Katsuo's finger drop from her face and in a bolding action grabbed his neck and kissed him full on the lips, in front of her father. She could feel his words pouring into his lips, like he wanted to show her just how much he loved her, and she was all too willing to receive those feelings.

"I think you should stop before your father has a heart failure…" her mother's voice came from far away and she felt Katsuo's lips back away from hers.

"I trust you!" she said, fervently, while her father grabbed her arm and almost dragged her behind him.

"**I LOVE YOU!**" she screamed, when the senkaimon started closing and Katsuo fisted her gift between his fingers. The metal was cold to the touch but his weight felt good in his fingers.

"Let's get back home before the neighbors start complaining…" Orihime advised, framing her son's shoulders with her arm.

"Mom, what are you scared of?" Katsuo asked, when they started walking back home. He noticed how her shoulders tensed for some seconds, and them relaxed when her husband's reiatsu envolved them like a blanket.

"_Of losing you and you sister…_" she said, with a sad smile and when Ichigo joined them they locked eyes and Katsuo felt like he was intruding in an incredible private moment. He wondered if when he looked at Kaoru other people felt like that… and he thought that it probably didn't happen... he loved her more than his own life, but what his parents had was something else, something he couldn't explain, something he believed was unique, just like them...

* * *

Latter, when the boy was already in his bed, he grabbed, once again, the gift from his bedside table. He heard the metal clink when he brought it close to his eyes, so he could read the kanji. He could feel the word under his finger when he touched the surface of the stone's necklace, the stone that had the same color that Kaoru's hair. _Hero_, it said. _**Her hero**_, she complemented, making him blush madly, when she gave it to him in their way home.

"_It's part of your name, and part of who you are_" she said, before he opened his house's door and knowing that her mother was right on the other side of the door was the only thing that kept him from ravishing her lips.

_I just hope you keep thinking like that... for my sake... for our sake…_

* * *

**Poor Katsuo, life isn't easy for him and his parents...**_  
_

**What do you think? Please review!  
**


	8. Chapter 8 The disease

**After I talked with some people in fanfiction and in deviantart: nypsy and jylener22, you are the best at cheering someone,_ thank you so freaking much!_, I decided to write this note before the chapter.**

**In the last chapter, someone commented that this story was looking like an Ichiruki wanna be, because their kids were dating, well, I want to clarify that part, since that person didn't have an account that I could answer to. I'm a totally IchiHime supporter, I don't like Ichiruki, even if I like Rukia. The reason I created Kaoru was because I really like the bickering between Ichigo and Renji and with him having a daughter I believe Renji would grow up to be much more protective and mature, and that's it, no hidden meaning behind the couple. If, for instance, in the end of this story I join Hanako with, I don't know, Ishida's son for example, was I trying to create an IshiHime couple through their kids? Of course not, but just like Kaoru and Katsuo, they would probably grow up in the same environment, learning to keep their powers and knowledge a secret and that, probably, would make their relationship really close, not some hidden fantasy of mine. So, please, before you accuse me or my story of something, I suggest you to ask and not jump to conclusions, saying that you're going to stop reading my story. I love when I see people enjoying my story and it makes me incredible sad that someone doesn't understand the meaning behind my characters and doesn't ask for clarification… Well, that's it, end of rant.  
**

**Now, to the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 8 – The disease**

_**Chapter's Music – Oh Star by Paramore**_

* * *

Orihime felt queasy the entire day. It was like some oppressive strength was grabbing her body and pressing her down. She didn't know if it was because of Kaoru-chan's information or maybe because Urahara-san was more worried than he was letting on. Was there any risk that that man could come back to haunt their lives? Was there any risk that her children might learn what a war feels like?

"Hi mom!" a male voice took her away from her reverie. She looked up from her flowers to find the smiling face of her son.

"Katsuo! You should be at school!" she said, getting up quickly, checking up any injuries he might have. It became a recurrent action of her since that fateful night…

"I'm fine! But the sensei fell ill, so we got out earlier and I thought about passing by… Don't tell me you don't want to see your son?" Katsuo asked, faking a hurtful expression.

"Silly…" Orihime replied motherly, while arranging a lock of his hair.

She walked off, towards some shelves needing attention, while her son pressed his weight against the shop's counter.

"Mom…?" he started, grabbing the woman's attention who was already dusting off some of her flowery vases. She looked back, waiting for her son to continue. "What did you talked about… yesterday… after I went upstairs with Hana?"

Orihime looked at her son, measuring him. He was tall for his age, skinnier than his father was at sixteen, but with the same unruly mane of orange hair. Her eyes shined back at her, with the fierce fire of Ichigo and hers combined. He was feeling uncomfortable under her observation: she noticed how he kept squirming under her gaze, how he put one of his hands inside his pocket and the other started playing with a necklace around his neck: it was new, she had never seen it before, so that led her to believe it must have been Kaoru-chan's gift.

"We are afraid that maybe someone from our past might be taking control of some kind of power…" she said. It took her large minutes to decide if she should tell him about her fears. He was sixteen, seventeen in a few days, and was already responsible and mature enough to hear those things, even if she preferred burning down her own shop than burdening her son with her fears. Her nightmares kept coming every night, her mind was getting tired and her body felt like it could sleep for ages, but every time she closed her eyes, at night, they would come _again and again and again…_ Was there any end to that torture? She tried to keep her façade for her children's sake. She smiled and laughed and cooked and sang, but she didn't feel her heart in those actions like she did before. And the worst was knowing that Ichigo was suffering as much as her, seeing her work so hard to keep the pretense of normality.

**_"My Orihime…" he sighed, after his wife woke up from another nightmare. He kissed her head, her eyelids, her cheeks and finally her mouth. She felt her body melt under his ministrations, but couldn't let go of that uncomfortable fear that was taking root inside her soul._**

**_She tried to smile, but he wasn't fooled. He knew her inside and out. He knew every expression of her face, every smile, every frown, every pout, every tear…_**

**_"I'm sorry…" she replied, hugging him against her body._**

**_"For what?" Ichigo asked, surprised._**

**_"For not being able to fight this… for making you suffer alongside me…" Orihime explained, with a sorrowful tone._**

**_Ichigo grabbed her cheeks, in a slightly painful manner and made her look him in the eyes._**

**_"Never think those fucking ideas ever again, do you understand? You always suffered beside me, watching me getting hurt, beaten, killed… Please, share your burden with me, let me be the savior this time…" he whispered, massaging softly her face after noticing her red cheeks._**

**_Orihime looked at him, astonished._**

**_"But I never…" she started to say, but Ichigo's lips stopped her reply._**

**_"You save me every time you breathe…"_**

"Mom?" a voice called, taking her out of her reverie. Orihime saw her son looking at her with a weird expression, like a slightly amusing curiosity was shining in his eyes. She blushed, being caught in her dreamy land and smiled apologetically.

"Well, I'm going home… See you later…" he said, kissing her forehead.

Orihime observed him walk away, biting her lower lip.

* * *

"Katsuo, are you home?" a male voice asked, echoing through the apparently empty house.

The boy was sleeping, his head under his pillow to shield his eyes from the sunlight. He stirred in his sleep when another voice spoke.

"He is, daddy. His bag is in the kitchen…"

"Katsuo!" the male voice called again, this time much closer. The bedroom door opened softly and two men walked inside the room.

The teenager boy was sprawled over his bed; his messy hair hidden from view. The sunset's light, leaking from the space between the window's curtains, colored the room in an orange range. The older man kneeled beside the boy and nudged him awake softly, under the watchful eyes of the younger.

"Hey…" came a drowsy response from under the pillow.

"Wake up, boy! Did you sleep the entire afternoon? Are you this tired? My son would have been kicked if I found him like this when he was younger!" the man said and some irritation grew inside the boy's head.

"Shut up…" he said, without knowing who was talking to him, or even caring about that.

"_Shut up?! Is that what you thought my grandson, idiotic son? He should respect his elders! I knew you wouldn't teach him good manners! Poor sweet Orihime-chan, having to put up with you two!_" the man yelled with a sobbing voice. His loud yells made Katsuo's head throb and he squeezed the pillow against his ears more forcefully.

"Can't you shut up?" the younger man asked. "Don't you see he is not okay? Son, are you sick?" the boy felt a calloused, but at the same time warm, hand press against his back and tried to replay.

"I'm not sure…" he said, feeling like his body weighted thousands of pounds. His eyelids were so heavy it was a herculean work just opening them.

When he opened his eyes all he could see was dark blue and it took him some moments to remember he was laying face down over his bed.

"Shit!" he heard the younger man curse beside his head and only then he associated that voice with his father.

He could tell the man was worried, his voice trembled with each curse, while he felt rough and at the same time soft hands try to turn him up. When Katsuo felt his face turn up, he saw an almost mirror image of himself looking at him. His father looked much younger than his years, while cold sweat ran through his temples. He looked almost like a lost boy.

In an instant his father's face was replaced with his grandfather's, the older man shoving the younger one aside. He put his hand over his forehead, feeling his temperature and without saying a word grabbed his body like it weighed a feather.

"Dad…" Ichigo called, running behind his father.

"We have to bring him to Kisuke, something is not right…" Isshin said, in a worried tone.

"Katsuo-nii…" a small voice called behind Ichigo and he turned around to see his daughter starting to run behind the pair. Ichigo grabbed her under her armpits and brought her against his chest.

"He is going to be alright!" Ichigo said fervently, like a prayer.

* * *

"_**What the fuck do you mean with he is fine?! He was burning with fever! He barely could talk! What the fuck are you saying?**_" Ichigo yelled, when the blonde man told his anxious audience his conclusions.

"I'm saying nothing is wrong with Katsuo-kun…" Urahara said in a bored tone, fanning himself. "The boy probably had a bug…"

"A…a… a bug? You call that a bug?!" Ichigo's throat was raw from all the yelling, but he just couldn't stop when this man was acting like that, demeaning his son's health.

"Yes! Now if you excuse me, I wish I could be left alone in my house!" Urahara said, non-gently.

Ichigo felt a warm hand grab his colder one and looking down saw Orihime's miniature looking back, with fear shining in her brown orbs.

"I'm sorry daddy yelled in front of you…" he said, crouching next to her.

"Is Katsuo-nii going to be alright?" she asked, softly and Ichigo felt like an iron fist just punched his heart. "You said he would…"

"I don't know, honey…"

"Of course I am!" another voice interrupted their conversation, making Hanako look up with her eyes twinkling. She released her father's hand and grabbed her brother's belly, the highest she could reach.

Ichigo looked at his son, searching for any signal of a lie, but he could find none. He was smiling at him, while the girl grabbed his hand and closed the distance between father and son. Ichigo grabbed the boy and squeezed him against his chest. He could feel his father's heart beating like a wild horse, while little waves of shock made his frame shake and only when he heard his father sob did he realize he was silently crying.

While the two men were engaged in their embrace, being watched by a small pair of eyes, a distressed reiatsu was approaching the place and when everyone's senses was invaded by that energy they looked around to see a wild gazed Orihime opening the front door. Her hair was all messy, her cheekbones red and her chest waved like she ran for miles, what was probably true.

"What happened?" she asked, with her hand over her heart. She looked from her husband to her son and finally to her daughter. She noticed the track of the tears in Ichigo's face, Katsuo's defensive expression and Hanako's relieved one.

"Katsuo had a high fever and my old man brought him here…" Ichigo answered, when Orihime closed the distance between them with shaky steps.

"Why not a hospital?" she replied, with her brows creased.

Ichigo shook his shoulders, showing his own ignorance. At the time he was too much worried to think about anything else beside his son and now his father was nowhere in sight to be questioned.

* * *

"Are you positive about that?" Isshin asked, with his arms crossed, while he paced the room.

"Yes, it's clear now, especially after what Grimmjow told me…"

"Are you going to tell the old man?" Isshin asked, stopping his pacing to look at Kisuke.

"Of course, especially because I will need his permission…" Urahara replied, with a Cheshire smile.

"Permission for what?" Isshin asked, noticing how his friend's eyes were shining devilishly.

"To break the most sacred law of Soul Society…" he said, closing his fan with a thump.

"You don't mean…" Isshin's voice rose barely over a whisper. He was looking at Kisuke like it was the first time he saw the man.

"Yes, I'm going to bring _Ichimaru Gin_ back to life…"

* * *

**What the hell is going on? Has Urahara finally lost his last piece of sanity? Nope, not this time...**

**What do you think about it? Are you excited with Gin's possible return?  
**


	9. Chapter 9 The Captains' Council

**Chapter 9 – The Captains' Council**

_**Chapter's Music – So Cold by Breaking Benjamin**_

* * *

"We can't wait any longer… I'm tired of their secrecy! I'm going there and find out everything about what is going on with Katsuo!" Ichigo was saying, while pacing the bedroom, in front of Orihime. "This isn't a simple fever, it's the second time in a few days and my dad and Urahara are worried as well! I could see how their eyes tried to hide it yesterday!"

Orihime was following her husband's tracks with dark eyes. She could remember all too well how the two men acted strangely when they found them in one of the spare rooms. Her father-in-law refused to accompany them home, which was weird enough, since the man always used any opportunity to spend time with his grandchildren, but when he said he would stay with Urahara-san, _to gossip_ as he put it, she had the certainty that something was really wrong and that the men knew or at least, had some ideas, about what might be happening with Katsuo.

She was relieved when Uryuu offered to take care of Katsuo and Hanako for the day, under the excuse of his own son missing his almost cousins. She wouldn't want them to see how worried they were, it was bad enough that her son looked at them with reprehensive eyes when they bided their goodbyes.

* * *

"What do you mean _he is not here_?" Ichigo yelled, looking daggers at the gigantic man in front of him.

"I already told you, Ichigo-san, boss went to Soul Society. He had some matters to talk about with the Captain Commander…" Tessai answered in a placid tone, while the younger one was fuming with rage.

"That's it!" Ichigo said, turning around to a worriedly looking Orihime. "Now I'm sure, Urahara knows what is going on!"

* * *

Urahara Kisuke was walking through a shiny wooden floor, when a sneeze made him stop; he just hoped Ichigo wasn't _too_ mad...

He could feel all the different kinds of reiatsu surrounding him. But there was only one that mattered in that moment and he was approaching it with each hurried step.

Opening the shoji door, the blonde man stepped inside, without taking his eyes from the figure that was standing in front of the farthest window. The old man didn't turn around when the door opened or when it closed; his eyes were trained on a small red bird, perched over a tree's branch.

"Captain Commander…" Kisuke called, kneeling in front of the ancient one.

The white bearded man turned around slowly, observing his former subordinate with sorrow mixed with sadness.

"I know why you are here…" Yamamoto said, in a husky voice.

"_You do_?" Kisuke replied, clearly surprised.

"I know what Kurosaki Orihime felt in her home, I know that something is not right with that family… You're not the only one who always wondered what really happened during that time and I know that for you to ask for Grimmjow Jeagerjaques and Nelliel Tu Odelschwank you must have found something… Something that made you swallow your pride and ask for my help… Something that I will have to authorize so you can find for sure, am I right?" Yamamoto said, with no trace of emotion showing through his face.

Urahara wondered how did the man know all of that, but then, he remembered that everything Nelliel and Grimmjow spoke with him was probably repeated when they arrived in Soul Society, so the old Commander could know that what they were doing was not something illegal…

"Yes, you're right _**this time**_…" Urahara said, trying to keep any trace of wounded pride or old grudges from his voice.

Yamamoto looked at him and Urahara saw how something like regret flashed through the depths of his eyes. He smiled inwardly, not showing how that weakness made him a bit happier.

"I'm here to ask you to bring one of your shinigamis back to life or after life, whatever you would like to call it…" Urahara said, with a trace of a smile tugging at his lips.

"Kisuke, you know better than anyone that when we die our bodies become particles to fusion with Soul Society…" Yamamoto replied, with furrowed white brows sending shadows over his eyes.

"Commander, you and I both know that that is not totally true…" Kisuke replied, with a sly smirk. "We know, just like Jūshirō and Shunsui, that when a shinigami dies by the hand of another zanpakutou his soul can't totally disintegrate… You know that it's possible, through a taboo spell, to bring them back through the particles left on the blade… And I know you know that spell, just like I do or did you forget who taught me that?" Kisuke asked, in a not too gently tone.

"Is that a threat?" Yamamoto asked, reiatsu flaring and Kisuke felt his knees shaking.

"Of course not, Captain Commander…" Kisuke answered with a sly voice. "All I wanted to say is that we must bring someone back to find out what really happened with Kurosaki-san!" Urahara hurriedly answered.

"That girl is always bringing us problems…" Yamamoto sighed, shaking his head, but if Urahara didn't know the man, he could swear he had just seen a flicker of pity in his eyes.

"Who is it?" Yamamoto asked, with a tickling sensation that he knew who was going to be named.

"Ichimaru Gin" Urahara replied promptly and Yamamoto sighed; he was right.

"That man sided with Aizen…" Yamamoto started to be interrupted by Urahara.

"You know why he did that… You know all he was trying to do was kill Aizen and protect the lieutenant Matsumoto…" Urahara said and even feeling that the older man's decision had already been made he kept trying, for he knew at least four people whose lives would be in peril if he couldn't change the other's opinion.

"I will talk with the captains! A subject of this matter should be discussed, especially involving those people…" Yamamoto said and Urahara could hear the double meaning of his words: _**But it doesn't change anything…They will agree with me…**_, but according to his own believes there were at least three captains that would side with him, for the sake of a blonde lieutenant and an auburn haired woman.

* * *

"Do you know why we are here?" asked a curious Shunsui, receiving as an answer a grunt from Kenpachi and a shrug of shoulders from Shinji. The others' eyes were locked in the grandiose door, opening to reveal two shadowy figures. They knew one of them was their commander, while the other was Urahara Kisuke and Toshiro wondered if they were going to finally find out what the hell was going on… And when he saw the older man's face rethought if he really wanted to know what the hell was going on.

The ancient man's face was marked by more wrinkles than any of the captains remembered seeing and a collective shiver passed through them, with the exception of Zaraki Kenpachi, who grinned like Christmas had come sooner.

"We have an extremely important matter to discuss today and I ask all your attention to the information I'm going to give and, of course, complete secrecy from any person outside of this room!" Yamamoto announced, raising everyone's curiosity.

"Some disturbance has been happening in the world of the living, concerning the Kurosaki family…"

"Figures…" Kenpachi grumbled under his breath, but Unohana silenced him with a glare.

"Kurosaki Orihime reported feeling a strong reiatsu surrounding their house, but when she ran to the place where she felt it that person wasn't there…" Yamamoto said, like the murderous captain hadn't talked at all.

"So, she knew it?" Shinji asked, and with a grave expression Yamamoto nodded.

"Yes and that is one of our main concerns, because that reiatsu belonged to someone that couldn't possibly be in the world of the living!" the ancient man said, grabbing his cane with such force the captains feared he might break it.

"And who was it?" Komamura asked, with a reserved voice.

"Sousuke Aizen …" Yamamoto said, and every captain in the room looked at him with disbelief. Kurotsuchi's eyes shined after the surprise passed, with the prospect of studying such an inquisitive phenomenon.

"Captain Commander…" Shinji gasped, while Soi Fon looked around with suspicion and Toshiro froze. Unohana looked with her mouth in a thin line, Byakuya was in a stoic position and Kenpachi grinned, with his hand over his sword.

"How is it possible?" asked Ukitake, the first to recover from the shock of hearing such news. The rest of his companions looked at him and then at the commander, with the exception of Shunsui and Hitsugaya, whose eyes remained directed to the blonde man behind their captain.

"Urahara here, brought to my knowledge some of his worries some days ago. With the recent suspicion raised by Kurosaki Orihime and some of his own suspicions about the health of her older child that he told me only today, he brought to me a suggestion that I think it's worrisome enough to be given our full attention, as a group of leaders…" Yamamoto said and Komamura sniffed with suspicion.

Yamamoto gestured to Urahara step forward and to take his part in the reunion. Urahara walked slowly, with his fan closed in one hand and a green and white stripped hat hiding his eyes.

"Good afternoon gentlemen and ladies…" he said, bowing respectfully, making Rose snigger under his breath and Soi Fon send him a censorious look. He grabbed his hat and took it out, letting every captain in the room see his eyes. They were serious and everyone felt compelled to hear him until the end.

"For some years now I've known about some curious dreams Kurosaki Orihime always has during the days surrounding her son's birthday; however this year they came earlier, coincidence or not, with the feeling of such reiatsu like the Captain Commander informed. After some conversations with our residents Arrancars I came to the conclusion that Aizen's plans for this woman were no mere trap to bring Kurosaki Ichigo and the rest of the group into Hueco Mundo, something that I've been suspecting since the day I learned of her miraculous return to life…" in here Urahara shut up, letting the information sink.

"Do you mean Aizen did something to Orihime that stopped her from dying and that this thing is making her feel his reiatsu?" Shinji asked, knowing that the other blonde was still hiding something.

"I'm not sure if that's the cause she can feel his reiatsu, but her son has been suffering some weird symptoms like high fevers that disappear like they were nothing and has been fainting as well…"

"But you wouldn't call us here just to tell us that, right?" Toshiro asked with an air of impatience. He hated being lied to and now he realized how his commander and the scientist tried to deceive him about his own suspicions.

"No, I'm here to propose a suggestion that needs the captains' acceptance…" Urahara said, with a hint of a smirk appearing in his lips. "I want to talk with the only person that was close enough to know Aizen's plans and, at the same time, was in our side… the one person that, according to our resident Arrancars, was seen walking with Aizen to his lab, while carrying an unconscious Orihime…"

The captains looked around, searching for some face that knew what the man was saying, but all of them were lost to what he wanted to do. Actually, some of them were starting to get a little fearful of what the man would come up with.

"I want to bring Ichimaru Gin back to life!" he announced, happily and for some moments the captains looked at him like he just talked a foreign language. Until a loud laugh interrupted everyone's mixed thoughts. Kurotsuchi Mayuri was eyeing his former captain with an air of expectation, while his creepy giggles made everyone shiver.

"But that's impossible! I would know if something like that was possible!" he said, when his crazy laugh died down.

"It's quite possible, right Shunsui and Jushiro?" Kisuke replied, observing the shadowy faces of the two oldest captains.

"Yes…" they nodded, simply, not wanting to start any conversation over why they had that knowledge in the first place.

"And that is what I want to propose so we can know what Aizen really did to Kurosaki Orihime that day…" he concluded, looking expectantly to every person in the room.

"You want us to authorize a mission to bring back an assumed enemy of Soul Society? Even if it wasn't against the law, do you really think that we..." started saying Soi Fon, when another voice outgrew hers.

"There is no other way?" Unohana asked, observing the former captain with furrowed brows. "I don't want to endanger what we fought for. What guarantees do you have that he won't try to release Aizen?" she asked, while the captains nodded in accordance to what she just said.

"Because Gin was never a real puppet of Aizen, all he did was for a reason, a reason that our dear Captain Hitsugaya knows a lot about, am I right?" Urahara said and the captains looked at the white haired one.

"Yes, Ichimaru Gin just wanted to protect my lieutenant. All he did was for her, he wanted to stop Aizen just like us, he just chose a wrong way..." Hitsugaya grumbled, looking at Urahara with cold eyes. He preferred not mentioning Ichimaru's old grudge against all the shinigamis, that wouldn't help his case at all, and, even not knowing why, Hitsugaya really wanted to help Urahara, even if that decision brought shivers down his spine.

The captains looked around, observing his comrades' faces. It was true that a story similar to what Toshiro said spread through their quarters, after the war, but no one ever heard Matsumoto talking about that, so it was labeled like a brainless rumor and no one ever spoke about it again, fearing the blonde's wrath and her captain's icy glare.

"If we don't vote favorably you are going to do this the same way, right?" asked Shinji, observing Urahara's grin.

"You know me too well…" he giggled making Byakuya and Yamamoto sigh impatiently.

"I vote yes, it's damn time we have some havoc in here!" Kenpachi yelled, raising his zanpakutou in a _**who is going to disagree with me?**_ kind of way.

Shunsui and Jushiro looked at each other, already knowing the other's decision.

"Yes, I agree…" they said at the same time, looking at their commander that was observing them with veiled eyes. They both loved Orihime and her children too much to let an old grudge stop them from saving her. Shunsui, especially, having a keen feeling about the woman being the reincarnation of his own daughter couldn't let something like that stop him from saving her at least once. They just hoped that their mentor wouldn't be too disappointed in them.

Toshiro nodded slightly and put his hand on the air too. He just expected Matsumoto wouldn't be too emotional when he told her the news.

Shinji, Rose and Kensei traded a look and nodded between their small group, raising their hands without saying a word. They knew what it felt to be cast way for fear and lack of information and they wouldn't let something like that happen to the woman that for so many years helped their fallen companions find strength once more. And besides, Shinji would never let his first love suffer if he could avoid it.

Kurotsuchi, without taking his eyes from Urahara's face, raised his hand. "I want to see if you are really able of doing something like that!" he said in a challenging tone, with a light sneer.

Yamamoto looked around, knowing that probably two more would join their yes to the already announced ones. And when Unohana and Byakuya raised their hands he sighed, with furrowed brows.

"For a majority of captains, Urahara Kisuke's request will be attended, leaving the outcome of whatever he does in the hands of the ones that said yes to this proposition!" Yamamoto Genryusai announced, turning his back on the council.

* * *

**I really don't remember what happened with Aizen's zanpakutou, but for the sake of this story lets pretend the captains put it in a safe place, away from its master.**


	10. Chapter 10 The worst nightmare

**Chapter 10 – The worst nightmare**

_**Chapter's Music – I won't back down by Fuel**_

* * *

Ichigo remained in Urahara's shop the entire day. Orihime would bring him some tea with an hour or so apart, spending the rest of the time sitting beside him, with her hand clasped inside his own. From time to time he would take his phone out and look at the watch, ignoring the calls that he would receive from the Police Station.

She could feel his shivers running down their connected fingers whenever his mind would make him take a dark path. So, she would say to herself that she had to remain strong, she couldn't show how worried she was, how afraid this ignorance made her feel, it was her time to show her own courage when her family really needed it. But even with those enterprising words, she found herself thinking how it would feel if something happened to her son, _would it feel like a blinding pain? Would she feel numb? Would she want to kill whatever hurt him? Would she able of kill?_ She didn't have to wait longer to know that answer, she would do anything to keep her children from any harm, even if it meant taking another life. She had learned a long time ago that her perspective of the world had changed irrevocably when she heard that small cry on June 17th. When Ichigo brought the small baby wrapped in a soft yellow blanket, dirty with blood, but with an already shocking tuff of orange hair, all her mind could think of was how breakable this little human being was and how she would move hell and heaven to bring peace of mind to his innocent life. And when she saw the tears running down her husband's face she was sure he felt the same way. Making a wordless pact they promised to always protect and love this small light they had created together. And now, all those years later, they would really put in practice such an important vow.

"I'm sick of it!" Ichigo roared, when the sun finally set down and Urahara wasn't back yet. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" he yelled, kicking the wood walls, with all his anger in display.

Orihime's phone started ringing making her jump and Ichigo finally ended his rant looking at the device like it was something from another planet. "Eye of the tiger" echoed through the air and Orihime looked apologetically to her husband.

"Yes, Tatsuki-chan?" she answered, without looking at the receiver. It was her best friend/sister personalized tone, chosen by the karate sensei.

"Orihime-san, it's me Uryuu!" the man said from the other line in a worried tone.

"What happened?" Orihime asked, disturbed, gaining Ichigo's attention. He closed the distance between them and she put the device on loudspeaker.

"I don't know where Katsuo is! We were at the garden, playing with Hanako and Shiro and he was inside, in the library, then we heard glass shattering and his reiatsu totally disappeared. I ran inside and I couldn't find him, the library's windows were broken though…" he said in a breathe and for seconds Orihime thought that her heart shattered like that glass until an almighty roar echoed right beside her ear and she let the device fell.

"What the fuck, Ishida! I asked you to take care of my son and you let this happen? I'm going to fucking kill you, you bastard! I'm gonna burn your fucking Quincy clothes and your skin with it! You brainless idiot! You asshole! You bastard! I'm… I'm…" Ichigo's voice embargoed and he could say no more.

"We… we… are going there…" Orihime whispered, while the strength in her body disappeared with Uryuu's farewell words lingering on the air. She felt her knees fall to the floor and for seconds thought about slipping in a dreamless sleep, until a smiling face appeared in her mind, reproaching her with his eyes. _**No!** **She wouldn't let herself fell into depression! Her son needed her more than ever! She had to get herself together and find him as soon as possible.**_

Jumping to her feet she felt Ichigo do the same behind her, like they were connected by a mental link that let them know each other's reasoning. Whatever it was, she was grateful that when she started running he accompanied her without sparing a second too long.

* * *

When they got to Ishida's house they found Tatsuki waiting for them, with her arms surrounding her nine years old son, while the boy looked with worried eyes to his mother's fearful expression.

"I'm sorry!" was the first thing coming out of her mouth when the two worried parents crossed her house's entrance. Ichigo waved her apologies away and entered the house, in search of his daughter. The girl sat at the bottom of the large stairs, hugging her knees against her chest, her eyes red and her cheeks pale. Ichigo and Orihime ran to her, hugging the girl between their bodies and making her shed her last tears, while surrounding their necks with her tiny arms.

Ishida got up from his chair beside the stair and approached the distressed family.

"I called Yasutora, my father and Kurosaki-san…" he said, in a sorrowful tone. "Kurosaki… I'm…" he started saying, but just like with Tatsuki, Ichigo waved his words away.

"When we find my son you will have time to excuse yourself, now let's get to work!" Ichigo said, looking around. Tatsuki was already running from upstairs with a huge map in her hands.

"We have to circle city's areas to search and make it easier!" she said in a tense tone. "When Isshin-san, Ryuken-san and Yasutora-kun get here we will be able of start the search…" she said, while drawing with colored marks circles over different parts of the paper.

"To hell the waiting! I'm going to look for my son right now!" he yelled, making the little girl in his arms tremble. "Oh, I'm sorry baby, dad won't shout again!" he said to her, while she relaxed against his chest.

"Katsuo is no longer Katsuo…" she whispered and Orihime looked at her, curiously.

"What do you mean, sweety?" her mother asked, stroking her hair softly.

"He doesn't _feel_ the same…" she replied, like the word "_feel_" held a special place in her meaning.

"Feel?" Ishida asked, observing the girl.

"It's been a while… I noticed it… sometimes when I'm at school I can feel him changing…" she kept whispering while the adults looked at her with veiled and confused expressions.

They kept observing her until a bang from the front door made them jump. Without being invited, Isshin entered, followed by Ryuken and some seconds later Sado with Tessai, Ururu and Jinta in tow.

"Did you draw our plan of work?" Ryuken asked, eyeing the map. Tatsuki nodded and explained to him what they would do.

Isshin approached his family and smiling sadly at his son and his daughter-in-law took the girl from their arms and laid her down on the couch.

"You need your arms free to search for Katsuo…" he said simply. "Don't worry, I called the twins, they must be coming in a couple of minutes… Yuzu will take care of them…" he said, eyeing Shiro kneeling beside the weeping girl and patting her shoulder awkwardly.

Ichigo nodded mechanically while Orihime looked Isshin with serious eyes.

"Are you going to tell us what is going on?" she asked, observing the man's eyes change to look at her.

"After we find Katsuo I'll tell what Urahara's ideas are, but only then. Now, we have to focus in the matter at hands!" he said and Orihime felt her stomach settle down. She knew he was telling the truth; finally they would know what the scientist was thinking and why those theories were so worrisome.

After Yuzu and Karin's arrival, the search parties went their way. Ichigo and Orihime went together, just as Tatsuki and Uryuu while the others went alone with Karin refusing immediately her father's suggestion of going with her, storming out before the man had time to attempt again. But, even those that went accompanied from time to time had to report what part of their zone was already searched or if they found anything strange.

The night rose and went away and no one found any trace of Katsuo's reiatsu. At noon everyone reunited at Ishida's place, grabbing with open hands the dishes Yuzu prepared for them, with the exception of Ichigo and Orihime that with knotted stomachs refused eating anything. Their daughter stirred minutes after their arrival and ran to their arms, asking if they had found her brother. With heavy hearts Ichigo and Orihime had to tell the truth and watch the small girl's expression fall.

"Please, save him from the bad man…" she asked, making her parents trade worried looks, but before they had time to question her, Tatsuki called them to show the map and discuss if there were any missing areas or places that needed a better look. After another half an hour of discussion the groups went away again, but this time Tessai went to Urahara's shop, in hopes that his boss might be back and he could finally tell the couple what was going on with their son.

The day passed similar to the previous night, with the worried parents' eyes losing the shine that the dawn brought. Now, the only thing that could bring some happiness into their minds was seeing their son safe and sound, but that prospect appeared slimmer with each passing hour.

Ichigo and Orihime spent their monitoring hours trying to find any justifications to Katsuo's disappearance. His phone kept turned off, they couldn't find his reiatsu, the shattered glass… they were too afraid of saying out loud, but the option that he might have been taken against his will was becoming more and more prominent in their minds. But then, why couldn't Ishida hear any sign of a fight? Besides the broken glass there was no evidence that something wrong could have happened and Ichigo and Orihime knew how strong their son was; he wouldn't go anywhere against his will without putting up a fight that could alert Ishida and Tatsuki that something was happening. God, their minds were so messed up!

Ichigo could see dark circles under Orihime's eyes and how her eyelids were blinking slower than normal, remaining closed for a longer time. He knew that she hadn't been able to sleep for more than a week now, since her nightmares began and finally it was taking a toll over her body. Actually, he was impressed, if he slept two hour per night for more than a week he would be a yelling and grumbling mess. It was another thing that made this woman so amazing: her ability of supporting not only a huge emotional shock but a physical one as well. When the light started fading, the sky gained an orange glow and after Orihime almost crashed against two light poles Ichigo finally put his foot down and grabbed his wife, cradling her against his chest in a bridal fashion. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but she was too tired to put up a great fight and sighing, she nested her head against his chest and let her eyes finally shut.

* * *

"Is she okay?" Tatsuki asked when Ichigo appeared with Orihime in his arms.

"Yes, she is just tired… She hasn't being sleeping that well and with all this…" he sighed, kissing her forehead softly.

Tatsuki looked at their best friends with a constricted heart; couldn't they have a normal, peaceful life like other families? Didn't they deserve to sleep eight hours per night, know where theirs kids were, worry with bills and vacations, make silly surprises at their anniversaries? Then why couldn't they have that? It made her so mad and so scared at the same time… Imagining Shiro disappearing… Uryuu hurt… God, how can they support shit like that? How can her best girlfriend keep smiling after all the shit that happened to her? She couldn't understand, but that was one of the reasons that made her fight so hard to protect the healer: if Orihime couldn't smile then what was there to be expected of the world?

"Mommy!" a girl scream irrupted through the house, making the adults reunited in the dining room appear in the hallway.

Orihime squirmed in her sleep at her daughter's voice and opening her eyes reluctantly found the little girl jumping to be able of seeing her face. Noticing the fear in her child's demeanor she almost flew from her husband's arms into her daughter's.

"I thought the bad man had caught you too…" Hanako whispered, making her mother's brown furrow.

"You already talked about this bad man this morning… Who is he?" Orihime asked and she could see the other people in the room observe with barely wrapped curiosity.

"I don't know, but he scares me… I can feel him sometimes when I'm sleeping and… that night when mommy cut her legs with the glass bowl…" she said, making Orihime and Ichigo's eyes almost pop out of their sockets.

"You felt him that night?" Orihime asked, trying to suppress her fear.

"Yes, but he disappeared again and I couldn't know where he was…" Hanako said, with her brown eyes so serious. They could see how disturbed she was and that made their next decision much easier.

"We are going home!" Ichigo announced. "Hanako is too scared and Orihime too tired…"

"I'm not tired!" Orihime replied with a dark look.

"Yes, you are! You almost destroyed two lamp poles!" Ichigo said, making the woman blush. "Now, that's settled. When you are sufficiently rested we will look again!"

Orihime grumbled the entire way to their house, but Ichigo barely listened to her. He was devising his moves to the next day. He would go to Soul Society and would bring those damn shinigamis here to search for his son and made the other part search in Seireitei and Rukongai even if the probability of Katsuo being there was so small. He would do that even if he had to fucking threaten that fucking Commander! Oh, yes he would!

Grinning with his plan, Ichigo turned his wife's rant on and heard her venting her frustrations. He knew she was acting like that because she felt powerless, she felt angry with her own inability of finding their son and she had to let go of that dark feelings in some way.

* * *

When they entered the house, Hanako almost asleep in her father's arms, Katsuo was coming down the stairs. He tried to run through them, but Ichigo's arm snaked past him, making him stop in his tracks.

"Where are you going? Where the hell have you been? What happened in Ishida's place? We've been looking for you since yesterday!" Ichigo yelled with anger boiling under the surface; he didn't know what was more strong, the anger or the relieve. In that moment all their theories were erased and he couldn't think anything more than **_"My son is safe!"_**. But, then seeing how his son looked distressed, he shut up, observing the boy with a clinical eye. He had sweat running down his temples, his face was pale and his frame looked shaken. "What is going on? Are you okay? Are you feeling sick again?" Ichigo asked, while giving Hana to his wife who was looking at her son like she couldn't believe he was really there.

The substitute shinigami grabbed his son's face and made him look at him and when their eyes found each other, Ichigo felt his heart crush into tiny pieces. It was like looking at Orihime's eyes after he woke up from his death at the hands of Ulquiorra: they were fearful, tear stained, horrified…

"Katsuo…" Orihime whispered, touching softly her son's arm. Hanako jumped from her mother's arms and run to hide behind her legs.

"Not Katsuo…" she whispered, unperceptively to her parents.

He tensed under her fingers and then, from nowhere pushed her behind, making stagger and almost fall. Behind her, Hanako squealed in fear and ran to a corner of the entrance.

"Get the fuck out of my way!" he screamed, making the older woman gasp. She had never heard her son talk like that to someone, especially to her.

"I'm not your son anymore. I'm much more!" he said, but Ichigo was hearing none of that. So, he walked forward, closing the distance between them, but before he could attempt anything a kick from nowhere caught him in the ribs.

"_Katsuo!_" he gasped, not wanting to believe that his son was capable of something like that. Through the corner of his eye he saw Orihime call her powers to protect Hana and then run to them.

Katsuo grimaced and with another kick sent Ichigo towards Orihime, distracting her from her goal.

"There you are, together as always..."he said, with a cold look in his eyes and both parents knew that whoever this person was he was not their sweet, protective, wonderful son. This person was someone using Katsuo's image or body, whatever it was, to get under their skin, but the worst was imagining what might have happened to their son.

"You are not Katsuo! What have you done to my son?" Ichigo roared, grabbing his shinigami badge and finally readying himself to a fight he tried to avoid while he thought this was his son in a teen crisis. But seeing him attacking his own father, putting his mother and sister in peril made him realize how naive he was being.

When Ichigo brought his badge against his body and felt his spirit being released from his mortal one, he only had a millisecond before a punch tried to break his nose. Ichigo jumped back, hitting the stairs with a soft humph.

_**"Damn it, it's too small in here to fight! I can't hurt the girls! I have to take him out of here!"**_

"Stop!" Orihime screamed, when Ichigo prepared himself to launch at the enemy wearing his son's face.

"Yes, stop…" he said, with a familiar laugh. Ichigo looked into his son's eyes but only saw Aizen's. And, in that moment his reiatsu burst from Katsuo's body and Ichigo understood the fear that Orihime felt that night, when she was alone with their kids and that spiritual pressure fell over her.

Orihime tried to run to him, but when she got near he grabbed her neck and squeezed it, making her punch and kick the air uselessly.

"Katsuo-nii, come back!" Ichigo heard a small voice call and his face turned to the origin of the sound. Releasing Orihime, he stepped in Hanako's direction, but Ichigo was quicker and planted himself in front of his daughter.

In the confusion of dust and wood he felt two others reiatsu approach his house and in a second Chad and Ishida were bursting through his front door, almost falling over Hanako's protective dome.

Katsuo's face observed the newcomers with a sneer and Ichigo used that opportunity to jump over him. He was able of punching his nose and some blood ran down his face. But when he tried to repeat the gesture and punch him in the stomach, the eyes' expression changed and for a moment he was his son again, protective, caring and loyal and he was unable of keeping the attack._ And that was his mistake…_

With lighting speed, he kicked him in the head, making him fly against the stairs, breaking part of the wall in the process. Chad closed the distance between him and Ichigo and tried to help him, while Ishida followed their enemy outside. He couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing, but nonetheless he knew he had to grab Katsuo and imprison him in any way he could.

When he reached the backyard, Ishida felt his body hurt under the spiritual pressure that was being released by his nephew… _No, he wasn't his nephew…_ He knew that reiatsu all too well and that belonged to Aizen… So Orihime was right, he really found a way of getting out of his prison… _Damn Shinigamis and their stupid punishments! Why couldn't they kill him and end all the fear? Why?!_

All that Ishida could do was watch powerless while the boy he always saw as a second son ran away, leaving his house half destroyed and his family in pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.

* * *

**Another piece of the conspirancy fell into its place...**

**What happened with poor Katsuo? Can they bring him back?  
**


	11. Chapter 11 The Aftermath

**Chapter 11 – The Aftermath**

_**Chapter's music – I miss you by Incubus**_

* * *

"Do you have any idea what is going on?" Sado asked, while Ishida sat on the bench in the Kurosaki's garden. The moon partially hidden by clouds left them immerged in dark shadows while observing their surrounding space in a protective way.

* * *

_When Ishida returned to the house, shaking his head in a defeated way, Orihime howled and fell to her knees. Immediately she was surrounded by her small but powerful fairies and her daughter's arms around her neck; the girl was sobbing against her mother's chest when Sado was able of getting Ichigo out of the wall. The man descended the last steps and engulfed his remaining family in large arms. The women changed their position and accepted all too willingly his support. He didn't cry… He didn't have the energy to do that… He just hugged them and then closed his eyes and fell to the floor. Orihime screamed his name, shaking his shoulders, but his eyes remained closed. Only when she felt his chest rise and fall under her arms she calmed down and without any help from the men raised him against her frame and supported him up the stairs._

* * *

"Did you feel his reiatsu?" Ishida asked, eyeing Sado with a piercing look.

The gigantic man looked from the cloudy night sky to his friend; he was observing the window he knew belonged to Katsuo's room, he could see his bluish curtains and behind them some of his posters, symbols of a lost innocence.

"Yes… It was Aizen's…" Sado replied, sighing longingly. "But how…?"

"I don't trust those shinigamis, but I don't believe they would let Aizen escape without telling us… It would be obvious who would be his primal targets… And that's why I can understand how we felt his reiatsu and how he is able of controlling Katsuo's body or create a copy or whatever we just saw… _There's no logic in it!"_ Ishida growled under his breath and part of his cool demeanor crumbled when he fisted his impeccably combed hair.

"We should tell Soul Society what happened…" Sado suggested after some moments of silence. The Quincy looked up from his reverie and nodded. He got up, pulled his phone out and started a call.

"Yes, Tessai-san? It's Ishida Uryuu… Something happened… We need to talk with Soul Society, Urahara-san or whoever can help us!" he said in a beat. "No, I mean, yes, we found him, but he is not himself… He ran way, I mean, he was kidnapped… We don't really know, but it's connected with Aizen, that's why it's so urgent!" Uryuu said and in a second his worried expression smoothed a little bit. "Okay, we will wait…" Ishida disconnected the call and looked at the device with apprehension. He didn't want to say that Katsuo was being controlled by Aizen or that someone used his image to breach their barriers, what would Soul Society do with such info?

"Tessai is going to send an urgent message and if in one hour he doesn't get an answer he will open a gate himself…" Ishida didn't want to think about Soul Society's reaction to another illegal invasion, so he really hoped that Urahara would answer the message as quick as possible.

Ishida looked to his phone and then to Sado and saw that his friend was observing him.

"You should call them…" Sado said and Ishida swallowed his own trepidation.

He waited while the phone made the call, he heard the familiar waiting sound and in that moment didn't know if he wanted the call answered or not.

"Uryuu-san!" the man answered with a worried tone. He knew something was not right, the former captain probably felt their reiatsu and if he wasn't there he was probably in a crazy frenzy.

"Isshin-san… we found Katsuo…" Uryuu said, biting his lower lip.

"Are you going to tell me why I felt Aizen's reiatsu mixed with yours, Yasutora-san's and my family's?" he asked in a cold and business-like tone. "I couldn't go there and leave my daughters and your family without protection…" he said and Ishida felt a wave of gratitude surround him.

"My father is not there?" Uryuu asked.

"No, he received an urgent call from the hospital and left me taking care of everything until he was able of returning…" Isshin answered. "But now, tell me!" and his voice almost growled, making goosebumps raise in Ishida's arms.

Ishida sighed and in a quick voice told the old man how, after Sado and he followed the little family from a distance, keeping their reiatsu low enough so the healer in her altered state of mind couldn't feel them, they felt a huge reiatsu coming from the Kurosaki household and what they saw when they arrived at the scene. For some minutes Isshin was silent and in the back Uryuu could hear the sound of cars. The man was probably outside, not wanting Tatsuki and Shiro to see his expression or hear his words.

"Did you send a message to Seireitei?" Isshin asked in a detached voice.

Ishida shivered at the coldness and replied affirmatively.

"Good… Your father is coming… I'm going to let him know and I'm going there right now!" he said and without another words disconnected the call.

Ishida looked at the phone seeing its light disappear and only looked up when Sado's voice echoed through the night.

"_He is awake…_"

* * *

He felt his eyes closing, the blackness reaching over him, drowning him under its spell. His mind was closing, not even the woman's voice reaching his conscience until he opened his eyes again, seeing her face suspended over his own.

"I'm pregnant!" she said with a smile in her face, not waiting for the man to be fully awake. He blinked, confused: it was not the present Orihime, the one he woke up to every morning; it was not the one who was pregnant with Hana, when their boy was like a baby duck, always following the woman, helping her with every little thing; it was her face when they were waiting for Katsuo, but he was sure that was not how things went when they found out about the pregnancy. His mind was screaming at him that something was not right: first, her smile was weird, looking more like a cold grimace and second there was a strange arm dropped over her shoulders dressed in a familiar white cloth, while she kept smiling down at him. Ichigo followed the arm to his owner's body, to a pair of observing brown eyes and brown hair stylishly combed.

"Congratulations!" Aizen said with a smirk.

* * *

And Ichigo opened his eyes again, gasping, this time to a dark room, only illuminated by the moonlight that dispersed through the open window. His body ached and his head was throbbing with each movement, but he got up nonetheless, searching for the woman of his dream. The way Aizen smiled at him from beside Orihime, the way his arm fell familiarly over her frame, the way he talked to him, it all brought his blood to a boiling point.

Ichigo didn't know how long he slept, the only thing he remembered was hugging Orihime and Hanako and then, everything was black, just like the room he was currently on. If he didn't know every centimeter of every object he would have fallen, but living in this place for the last eighteen years made him incredible aware of every surface. He searched for his wife and daughter's reiatsu. The little girl was closer and he found her in her brother's bedroom, curled in the foot of his bed with one of his old t-shirts; the sight made him almost crumble to the floor and only with a herculean will power he made himself turn around and descend the stairs.

He could also feel Chad and Ishida's reiatsu, outside; probably guarding them from any unpleasant surprise. He wanted to thank them, but couldn't think of the words that could express gratitude to someone when this someone was protecting you from your own son. **_No, right now he is not Katsuo!_ _He is that fucking bastard Aizen! But not for long! I will have my son back and I will kill that fucker, even if I have to walk into that prison all by myself!_**

The man found her in the kitchen, the lights all out. He could discern her slumped frame sitting at her usual chair. The moonlight illuminated her long auburn hair and he noticed how it hidden her face from any prying eyes. Her shoulders shook every few seconds and he was stuck there, watching while she cried. He felt his own eyes sting and with two strides he was right beside her, crushing her against his chest. And they cried together. They cried for their son, far away from them, they cried for the small girl who watched her brother almost kill their parents, but they mostly cried for what they were afraid of doing: losing hope.

When their tears stopped, Ichigo looked to his wife's hands, feeling something soft touch his naked chest. Trapped between her fingers, he saw a small green blanket with a frayed fringe, so painfully familiar like the last time he tucked his baby boy in his crib with it.

"I found it, in his room…" Orihime answered, to her husband inquisitive stare. "I think he was trying to grab into something… something that reminded him of his life…" she whispered, smoothing the cloth in her lap.

Ichigo grabbed her hands and brought them against his lips.

"I swear to you, right here, right now, I will make that bastard pay for every pain he has brought to us, Soul Society and its fucking laws be damned!" he said, fervently and Orihime nodded.

"And I'm going to be right beside you, kicking him to the depths of Hell!"

He has never seen her like that before, not when a hollow would attack him behind or when he was reckless during his work. Her eyes were shining with a furious light, a light he was accustomed to see in shinigamis like Kenpachi when he was fighting and not in his sweet and lovely wife. And, in that moment, he understood: she loved him with all her heart, she would give her life to protect him, but the love she felt for their children couldn't be guarded inside her little heart; it was too much, it was engrained in her own body, in her powers, in her soul, in her nature. And, for the first time he understood how easy it was for his mother to give her life away to save his own, because, in that precise second he could see Masaki's face in Orihime's and he knew the woman would repeat his mother's actions just as easily for her son: she would save him even if it meant her life and soul. So, setting his jaw, he vowed to himself that he would bring the both of them back to their home, curse him if he wouldn't!

* * *

**Please, read and review!**


	12. Chapter 12 Gin & Rangiku

**Chapter 12 – Gin & Rangiku**

_**Chapter's Music – NYC by Interpol**_

_**Dead Wrong by The Fray**_

* * *

Matsumoto Rangiku was walking through her Squad's barracks when her captain appeared next to her with a paler face than usual. She observed how his eyes looked at her with an unknown emotion… was it _fear_? Surely not, her captain wasn't afraid of anything, especially not her,_ right_? Was it because she made that report about him to the paper? Or because those photos she showed at her last meeting of the Shinigami Women's Association? Was it concealed rage and not fear?

"Matsumoto…" he called, surprising her. It was not an angry tone… it was a worried one and in that moment his expression changed to the one she saw him wearing when he looked at his grandmother.

"Captain…" she gasped, running to close their distance. "What happened? Are you okay? Someone got hurt?"

He sighed and she felt shivers run down her arms, in that moment she desired her hair was still long so it could warm her a little more and hide her scared expression.

"Matsumoto…" he said again and turning around gestured for her to follow him inside their office.

The woman obeyed knowing that it was no time for playful remarks. She could see it in the wrinkles beside the boy's eyes; he was worried, but tried to hide it nonetheless and she almost laughed, no one knew him like she did, it would be impossible for him to deceive her.

Toshiro stopped in the middle of the room, then, started walking again and circled his desk, the movements slowly, like he had to think for some moments before performing them. He took his sword slowly and Matsumoto was almost strangling him with anxiety.

"**_Captain!_**" she yelled. "Stop that! You're almost killing me with all this crap! What is it you have to tell me?"

Hitsugaya looked up from the sword he had in his hands and in a cold and detached voice said quickly "They are bringing Ichimaru Gin back!"

Matsumoto looked at him with wide eyes, her mouth forming the words but without releasing a sound. She felt the floor move and had to step back to support herself on the back of her nap couch.

"Captain…" she whispered with a sad smile tugging at her lips. "What are you saying? Gin… Gin… Gin is _dead_… it's impossible to bring him back… Why are you saying this? Why?" she asked, with her other hand, that wasn't supporting her, beating against her chest, like she could make her heart stop its beating and excited race.

"Apparently Urahara, Captain Commander, Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyoraku know some way of bringing him back… They didn't explain how…" Toshiro said, observing how his lieutenant raised herself to her entire height and circled the couch to sit with a rigid stance.

"Why?" she asked, in a hoarse voice, without turning around to look at him. The only part he could see of her was the back of her head, with her short blonde hair and the couch hiding any other part of her body.

"Our suspicions were right… Something is really happening with the Kurosaki family… Orihime… she felt Aizen's reiatsu near her…" Toshiro said and with surprise saw Matsumoto's head turn in a millisecond to face him; her eyes rimmed red.

"What? Is she alright? What the hell was Aizen's reiatsu doing in the world of the living when he is prison? What the hell is going on?" she yelled and for some seconds he thought she had lost her mind, but then, breathing slowly she turn her face again to look at the wall and with her much calmer tone kept talking. "So Urahara lied to us... I can't wait to see what you, Captain, are going to do to him…" she said and Toshiro heard with relieve a small giggle coming from her.

"Hum… good idea, Matsumoto, I really have to think of something…" he said in a contemplative tone, hoping to distract her from her pain even for a small amount of time.

"I know what you're doing…" his lieutenant said and once again turned to look at him with a heartbreaking smile in her face. Toshiro felt his heart ache with her pain and thought for seconds how he would react if he was in her place… "And thank you…" she said, with a gentle voice.

"C'mon, I don't want my lieutenant a weeping mess! You will flow all your paperwork!" he said in a fake stern tone that made the woman giggle again.

"Tell me more…" she asked, resting her chin over the coach's back to look the boy in the face.

"Theorically I shouldn't be telling you anything, but, apparently_ my mind was being too over imaginative_, so let it be over imaginative once again…" he said with a sour tone and Rangiku knew he was quoting what their commander said when her captain told him about his worries; she had to suppress a smile: her captain, the rebel…

"So, apparently, Orihime have been having nightmares for years in Katsuo's birthday, but this year they came earlier and that was the day she felt Aizen's reiatsu, apparently… Urahara has some suspicions that maybe her kidnapping all those years ago was not only to bring Kurosaki to Hueco Mundo but to do something to her, like an experiment or something like that, I don't know… And besides, he also thinks that whatever he did to her might have saved her when that hollow killed her here…" Toshiro explained to a wide open mouth Rangiku.

"What?" she screeched. "Aizen did something to her? And that thing kept her from dying? But I thought it was Katsuo's powers…" Matsumoto said confused.

"In fact, Katsuo has been sick these last days… fainting… fevers… I don't know, but it must be connected… there are too many coincidences in this story…That's why they need Ichimaru: to tell them what Aizen planned for Orihime…" Captain Hitsugaya said, while Matsumoto nodded absently.

"Do you think Aizen wants to use Katsuo as a weapon against Ichigo? Or killing him to make his father suffer?" she asked fearfully, shivering at those awful thoughts.

"I don't know… What makes me more confused is how he is doing this! In the end of the reunion I heard Captain Unohana asking if they checked Aizen's whereabouts and the Commander said he did that as soon as he knew about the news and he, himself, saw that he was where the Central 46 left him…" Hitsugaya said, setting his hair in disarray with his uneasy fingers.

"Did they talked with Central 46?" Matsumoto asked and saw her captain shake his head.

"They want to take care of everything by themselves… I just hope it doesn't do more bad than good…" Toshiro sighed and Rangiku let her body fall over the couch. She sighed and looked to her knotted fingers in contemplation.

For some moments they were silent, thinking about the last happenings, until, surprising the both of them, Rangiku talked.

"He didn't always wear that creepy smile, you know? I was always teasing him, saying his own subordinates were afraid of him, but he just laughed and smiled his old smile to me…"

Toshiro looked at the back of the couch where he could see, in each extremity the top of her blonde hair and her dangling legs.

"We were children when we met… He gave me some persimmons when he found me collapsed beside a road… I was just like you, I didn't know I had spiritual power and he was the first one to tell me that… From that day on we started living together, two children trying to survive in Rukongai without anyone to protect us, except each other… And every year on the birthday of our meeting it became my birthday and he would give an entire bag of persimmons that he would stole from different place, so he wouldn't get caught… I used to scold him, but the taste always made me forgive him… I always forgave him…even when the stories he told me would be scary and I had to cuddle next to him, afraid of the dark… He is the only man I've ever loved and when I found out he sided with Aizen… It was like everything I believed in just crumbled down… It hurt so much… But when I saw him falling… I didn't feel the pain, I was numb… I couldn't believe it was happening… And then I found out the truth and the real pain started, because I realized he did that for me… He was taking revenge from what they did to me… And I lost my faith in him… I believed he was a bad man and for that I will never forgive myself…" when she finished Toshiro got up from his desk, circled the couch and sat beside her head, on the floor, grabbing her hand with his own. He saw a lonely tear running down her face which she cleaned immediately with shaky fingers.

"I'm sorry, Matsumoto…" he said, not really sure if it was what she needed to hear.

After some moments of silence, Rangiku looked up from her Captain's hand around her own and into his eyes.

"So, he is really coming back..." she said, like even after what he said she still couldn't believe.

"Yes, he is..."Hitsugaya nodded, observing his lieutenant's glossy eyes.

"And after they have their information? What happens then? Are they going to let him stay here? _Live happily ever after_ like in those human stories?" Rangiku asked in a challenging tone, with a touch of bitterness.

Her captain looked at her, mouth closed and wide eyes, he didn't want to lie and tell everything would be alright and she could have her second chance, he respected her too much and liked her too much to deceive this woman like that.

"I don't know..." he confessed, watching with dread, her eyes fill with unshed tears. He knew she was trying her best not to cry, but he also knew that not all the tears were bad, sometimes, they could free you more than you thought possible.

* * *

**I know you wanted to know more about what is going on with Katsuo, but I had to write this chapter before the story developed more. I always had a soft spot for Rangiku and Gin and like some of you know, he is the reason I'm writing this sequel, I wanted to bring him back and show that even with all the bad things he did, he still could do something good. Besides, I wanted to show Rangiku and Toshiro's relationship as friends opposed to the Captain-Lieutenant thing. **


	13. Chapter 13 Preparations

**Chapter 13 – Preparations…**

_**Chapter's Music – Breathe by Breaking Benjamin**_

* * *

"_Urahara-san! Urahara-san!_" someone kept screaming behind the closed doors, pounding the wood.

Urahara sat, cross-legged, in the middle of the room, in front of a zanpakutou, trying to concentrate on what he was going to do. He had to keep his reiatsu in check… Bringing a soul back was incredible dangerous, it could mean, if the summoner couldn't control his or her reiatsu, a painful death and the irremediably loss of the soul, so, Urahara, cherishing his life really didn't want to lost it because of a stupid mistake. But those banging were starting to irritate him and he had to breathe slowly to keep his tension away, protecting his mind from any clouding thoughts.

"_What the hell are you doing here?_" he heard Shinji ask. The door muffled partially their words, but he could still hear them perfectly, which could be a good and a bad thing.

"_An urgent message from the world of the living to Urahara-san! Kurosaki Katsuo was kidnapped by someone connected with the prisoner Aizen!_" the first shinigami answered, making the Captain swore loudly.

The silence reigned outside after Shinji's swearing words, and Kisuke knew the man was trying to discover what to do next that would help in their already designed plan. His reiatsu flickered with anxiety and fear and the scientist sighed.

"Too late…" whispered Urahara, eyeing the flames in front of him with clouded eyes. "I shouldn't have waited for so long!"

He looked to the closed door, when Shinji sent the unknown shinigami to give the message to every captain and lieutenant. Kisuke knew what his friend was doing: he was recruiting the troops to start a defensive barrier.

"_I know you heard… Don't worry; we will take care of everything in this side… Just do what you have to do…_" Shinji said through the wood and when he finished, Urahara could hear his hurried footsteps disappearing in the distance.

The flames clicked and changed from red and orange to a dark blue, with white ashes flying around in an inexistent wind. When the ashes finally fell around his body, Urahara joined his hands like in prayer, opened his mouth and started whispering…

The blade shined and the flames licked the metal, making it release a soft mist that made the room hard to see.

* * *

"What the hell do you mean someone kidnapped Katsuo?" the fiery lieutenant yelled when the terrified shinigami told him the news.

"I just received the message in our Research Department and I went to tell Urahara-san, but Captain Hirako stopped me and told me to inform all the Captains and Vice-captains…I was going to send the Hell Butterflies right now…" the shinigami squealed like a little mouse being stepped over by a huge cat.

"And are you sure they said _Aizen_?" Renji asked to which the shinigami nodded vehemently. "Fuck! You can tell the others, I will talk with my Captain and my wife and Captain Ukitake as well…"

Renji found his wife and daughter accompanied by the woman's captain in their squad's office. The younger woman was hearing the captain with exceptional attention and giggling with each word.

"Yes, you should have seen the first time he came here… Ichigo lost him from sight for two minutes and the boy was able of running to Captain Commander's office… When he found him the old man was prying his favorite book from his mouth…" Kaoru snorted with laugher in a rather unlady-like manner that made Renji secretly proud of.

"Renji!" Rukia said, when her husband's head popped from the hallway.

"Hum… hi!" he said, awkwardly. He thought that he had to talk with only his wife and her captain, but seeing his daughter here, happy and serene, made him rethink his purpose. However, his wife was having none of that.

"What is going on? It looks like you saw a hollow…" she said bluntly, making the other two look up from their conversation.

"What happened, dad?" Kaoru asked, getting up from the couch. Behind her Ukitake got up as well, putting a hand over her shoulder.

"Is there something wrong with Kisuke?" the white-haired man asked, making the other three look at him with confusion.

"Urahara is here?" Renji asked, closing the door behind him. Now, that was something his captain didn't talk about. He informed him they had a meeting with the man, where they talked about their concerns about Orihime's info, but not that the man was still here…

Ukitake looked at him like a child caught stealing cookies from a jar and with an awkward movement he nodded.

"Captain, you didn't tell me that…" Rukia said slowly, observing the older man's eyes close, like he was ashamed.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want to worry you more than you already are…" he said, sighing. "Renji, what is going on?" he asked, opening his eyes again. Through the man's expression he could see that something was wrong.

Renji looked into his daughter's eyes and swallowing the lump in his throat, spoke with a detached voice.

"Katsuo was kidnapped by someone working with Aizen… I just received the message… I don't know anything besides this…"

Kaoru felt like her lungs were punctured by rusty knifes and she fell against the back of the couch, sliding to the ground. She looked at her father like she couldn't believe what just came from his mouth and she was not the only one. Rukia also looked at him with disbelief written all over her face and in a second was crouching beside her daughter, with her arm over the girl's shoulders.

Ukitake looked at the man with his mouth partially open, like he wanted to say something but forgot the ability to speak. Then, in a rush of commotion, the captain started talking in an incredible speed.

"The others captains know? Who gave you the message? Do you know where Kisuke is?" while keeping a hand over his debilited heart.

Renji seeing the tension in the older man's body impersonated his most formal façade.

"A shinigami from the Research Department told me… Captain Hirako sent him to tell all the captains, they are probably receiving the Butterflies right now…" Renji said, while Ukitake approached the door and opened it again.

"Rukia, please, stay here with Kaoru, I'm going to find out what is going on!" Ukitake said and nodded to Renji to follow him.

The younger woman looked up, with her tear stained cheeks and a resolute shine in her eyes.

"I'm not going to stay here waiting for news! I'm going to the world of the living! I have to talk with Orihime-san and Ichigo-san… They must know something else and besides, they will need me!" Kaoru got up, shrugging her shoulders to get rid of her mother's protective arm.

"No way in hell!" her father said, with his eyes flicking. "We don't know what is going on on that side… I'm not letting you go in a suicide mission because your boyfriend went missing!" he almost roared and his daughter's shoulders tensed.

"What if it was mom that went missing? You would do anything to find her!" the girl yelled back and her father stepped forward with his index finger extending her direction.

"You're fifteen years old…"

"Sixteen, or did you forgot my birthday was yesterday?" she snapped and Renji felt his patience running even thinner.

"Fine, you're sixteen, you don't have a Bankai, for your mother's sake you didn't even finished your education! If you go there you will only be a liability! Do you want to put Orihime and Ichigo in peril? Do you want their attention dispersed from the search for their son because they have to worry about you?" he said and with that turned around and followed Ukitake outside the room, closing its door with a resounding bang.

"You were harsh…" the older man said when Renji closed the distance between them.

"I know, and I regret hurting her, but I don't regret my words, because they will keep her from harm's way. She is my only daughter and I would die for her and I don't want to see her jeopardizing her security in that way… When this is all done I will talk to her and apologize… Until then, even if she hates me, I will keep her safe!" Renji said, looking down to the wooded floor.

Ukitake observed the man while he spoke and with a smile tugging at his lips he said "You matured, Abarai Renji… It's really a pleasure to see…" making the younger one blush admirably.

"Now, let's rush!" the captain said and they flash-stepped away from the office.

* * *

Byakuya was sipping his tea when his lieutenant appeared in his house with his reiatsu sky-rocketing. When the younger man opened the door to his brother-in-law's living room the Kuchiki clan's head was already with his zanpakutou in hand and ready to battle.

"Katsuo was kidnapped by someone working with Aizen…" he said immediately and saw how his captain's eyes widen.

"Do you know if it was a shinigami or an Arrancar? _Why couldn't that man protect his own family?_" Byakuya asked himself, making Renji wonder if the stoic captain wasn't softening to the orange haired family.

"Why are you looking at me with that face?" he asked, noticing the curious look his lieutenant was giving him. "We' ve to talk with the rest of the captains and lieutenants, I think it's time for you to know what is going on..." Byakuya said in peremptory tone.

"Captain, are you talking about Urahara-san's secret job here?"

Byakuya looked at his subordinate with raised eyebrows, but knowing it would be impossible to keep that information a secret for a long period of time, he nodded, making his brother-in-law anxious to what he would discover in a few hours. What would be so bad or so complex that only the former proscrite shinigami, owner of a partially demented partially genius intellect, could achieve?

* * *

**This chapter was especially created to show how Renji matured, through the years, because of his daughter. He is still that hot-headed man, always ready to jump into a fight, but having a daughter to protect he has to do somethings he would rather not do, like yelling at her or saying those things, even if he would act like her if it was Rukia missing. **

**Don't worry, those who miss our orange haired family, they will be back in the next chapter! I wanted to set the scenery in Soul Society for their arrival, that's why those last chapters have been focusing in that.  
**


	14. Chapter 14 Dead meet the living

**Chapter 14 – Dead meet the living…**

_**Chapter's music – Make it without you by Andrew Belle**_

* * *

Ichigo was walking slowly through his semi-destroyed hallway, eyeing the things he had buy with Orihime through the years, screech under his feet. He sighed, crouched and with rough fingers cleaned a framed photo from glass and wood. Miracously that little thing made of blue plastic survived when everything around it was destroyed. He felt his throat contract at the irony and looked up to see his little daughter sipping tea from a small cup in a shape of a pink rabbit; she was observing her mother filling three bags with clothes and others necessities with mechanical moves.

He looked down again to his hand and his free fingers traced the shape of the smiling faces: it was Hanako's first month anniversary and she was enjoying her first day in the wild after a difficult birth; she was in her mother's arms, sitting outside in their garden bench while the woman explained to her the names of the different flowers. The girl didn't pay any attention just like any other newborn, but he could notice how happy she felt, surrounded by those arms. Kneeling beside them was the proud father, trying to grab the girl's attention, while she had a firm grip in his index finger, but with no avail luck. And then, the fourth person, the one the girl was looking at, the one that was able of grabbing her attention. He was grabbing a green blanket and Ichigo remembered how the boy looked like a mother hen, worried that the baby or their mother might be cold… He tried to cocoon them with his small blanket, but the piece of cloth was too small and he was pouting until a few minutes back, when, with a squeal of delight, the baby girl made him smile. Isshin took that opportunity to take the picture without anyone noticing and only when he gave it to them in that blue plastic frame did they find out.

Ichigo got up, with the frame securely inside his hand and approached the packing machine that was his wife. He put the frame inside one of the bags, under the watchful eyes of the healer and some moments later she put the green blanket over it, protecting the delicate object.

"Are you ready?" Ichigo asked when the woman closed the bag.

She remained in silence for some moments, but then, looked up with a obstinate shine over her eyes and nodded.

Hanako jumped to his arms and then, after she was secured, surrounded by his left arm, Ichigo extended his right hand to grab his wife's.

The senkaimon was already open, in their backyard, when they exited the house, still in a daze.

* * *

At dawn, when Isshin got there he had a long talk with Ishida, telling him what he should do next to organize a kind of escape plan. The Quincy, after giving his own suggestions, immediately left to tell Tatsuki what happened and contact Soul Society again, through Tessai. He hoped he could talk directly with the Research Department and explain what happened at the Kurosaki household and what the former captain expected from them.

Isshin then made all he could to help his family reorganize their minds and prepare to leave the quickest as possible to Soul Society. He didn't want them here, like easy preys, and since his son wasn't in his right state to come up with a logic plan (not that this was one of his strengths in his best days…) he felt responsible to contact with Ishida and Soul Society and bring them to the spiritual ground. After Isshin made that plan he was informed, through the connection with the Research Department, that a senkaimon was open at the first hours of dawn with a zanpakutou known as a belonging of Kurosaki Katsuo and that made his plan more solid in his mind; if the boy went to Soul Society they should bring his parents there, to help in any way they could.

* * *

"Yes, they are almost ready…" Ichigo could hear his father's voice from somewhere in his garden.

When he closed the door the older man appeared with a phone right beside his ear, to which he was talking to.

"Oh, they are here, I will let them into the senkaimon right away! Yes, good, thank you…" he said and taking the phone from his ear disconnected the call.

Ichigo approached his father, after letting Hanako go to Orihime's side, grabbing her hand with her two.

"Hey, dad…" Ichigo said, when they were closer to each other.

The older man looked into his son's eyes and smiled with contemplation.

"You don't have to say anything… I understand…" Isshin said, and surprising his son embraced him, not in an _I'm-going-to-break-your-bones-_kind of way, but in a supportive and heartfelt manner. When they retreated, Isshin's eyes were strangely glossy and Ichigo smiled sadly.

"When we are back, I will punch your nose for your secrets, but now…" Ichigo just sighed, not able of saying anything more. His father chuckled darkly, knowing that his son would keep that promise, especially after seeing the last addiction to the habitants of Seireitei.

After hugging Orihime, whisper some words into her ear, which Ichigo wasn't able of hearing, and grabbing his granddaughter against his chest and ask her to take care of her parents, he let them go.

Yuzu, Karin, Sado, Ishida, Tatsuki and Shiro were waiting beside the portal to bid their goodbyes as well. The small boy made Hanako hear ten different ways of defeating an enemy before her father could drag her away from the boy, while Orihime hugged her best friend and her sisters-in-law in a profound way.

"Don't worry, Yasutora and I will follow you in a few hours, we just have to organize things over here and explain in your job how hurt you are and how you must be kept in my hospital after your accident…" Ishida said, in a professional way, but even then, Ichigo could see a light smirk trying to get a hold of the corner of his lips. To his words, Tatsuki frowned and her scowl made Ishida sigh and rub his temple; he knew it would be a huge discussion in his house when he had to go and leave his wife with his son, but no way he would let the woman endanger her life by accompanying him to Soul Society, even if he had to strap her to a chair.

After trading the last words, the family entered the senkaimon, with the man's arm sagely surrounding his wife's shoulders, while his other arm kept his daughter against his chest.

"Please, bring _all_ my family back…" Isshin whispered to the closed door, when the three orange heads disappeared behind it.

* * *

When the senkaimon opened, blinding them momentarily after the darkness, the Kurosaki family found one captain, two lieutenants and one teenager waiting for them.

Shunsui had his arm over Kaoru's shoulder, but when the girl saw the family she ran from her position to embrace Orihime with her arms. She started sobbing in the older woman's shoulder, while the healer patted her hair with affection. Right behind her, Rukia, Renji and Shunsui closed the distance and took their protective and supportive stance beside the hurting family.

"Thank you for taking care of everything with my dad…" Ichigo said, without looking from the two women's embrace.

"No problem…" Renji said, letting his hand fall over his friend's shoulder in a reassuring way.

Ichigo nodded, in an absent way, and then, tensing his shoulders, like he was taking a stance, he looked at his friends and asked "What do you know about all of this? My dad wasn't specific about it, but I could understand that you're working with Urahara to find out what the hell is going on…"

At his words, Renji and Rukia looked at each other, and biting her lip, the woman replied "We can't tell you right now, it's… complicated… unbelievable…"

"Try fucking creepy…" Renji supplied and Ichigo scowled at him.

"Don't use that kind of language with my daughter near!" the man growled, and Renji sighed in relief, finally his friend was regaining part of his fieriness.

"Why do you say that?" Orihime asked, finally entering the conversation. Kaoru regained her place beside her mother and was much calmer, actually, her eyes held a fire similar to her own father's when faced with a challenge.

Renji looked around, opened his mouth to say something, but before he could organize his thoughts, Shunsui stepped forward and put a hand over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, my dear…" he said, looking at Orihime, with apologetically eyes. "But we can only speak of this somewhere more private… It's a matter of great secrecy and we wouldn't want a bunch of gossipers hearing it…"

Shunsui looked at Kaoru's face, noticing her stance and how her expression changed from tearful to challenging and weighting the cons and pros said, looking at her, "You should come too, Kaoru-chan… You've the right to know!" and taking Orihime's hand in his own, made the group restart their walking, directing them to Yamamoto's Quarters.

* * *

When they arrived, they could tell that what Urahara was planning was something incredible worrisome. Orihime, more than Ichigo, could feel the smallest flicks of reiatsu, and those waves of fear, anxiety, incredulity and in some exceptions, excitement, made her blood run cold and her face paler. She could see Hinamori's face, ashen colored but with a determination stretched over her face that made the healer smile warmly; the woman changed so much under Shinji's command, it was really a beautiful sight to be held. However, she also noticed the absence of one captain and one lieutenant and asked herself what might have happened with Toshiro and Rangiku that could explain their absence; she didn't know why, but that made her fear increase even more. She squeezed Shunsui and Ichigo's hands, and the first looked at her with a sad smile and the last with a confused and worried expression. Hanako, secured in Ichigo's free arm, was looking around, observing the people around her, sensing their moods and feeling her lungs constrict with fear; something dark was happening in one of the rooms, something she felt was forbidden, like stealing or hurting someone, something she felt should never be done… she looked at her mother and father but apparently they couldn't feel that energy in specific, because their eyes were glued to the group of captains and lieutenants and not the corridor, to the right, that hided that strange feeling.

"Mommy…" Hanako said, grabbing Orihime's attention. "What is in there?" she pointed to the hallway and all the captain looked at her with surprised expressions, however, one of them held a curiously creepy expression that none of the parents enjoyed very much.

"I don't know, sweety…" Orihime said, letting go of Shunsui's hand to clutch her daughter's reassuringly.

The woman saw how the girl kept looking at that place and noticing the others' expression directed her senses to find out what she was feeling. Some strange kind of reiatsu lingered there, but it was just a remaining energy, at least to her own perception and she couldn't stop her mind from wondering to her daughter's revelations about feeling the strange changes in her brother's reiatsu… Could the small girl have an extra perception of what was happening around her? Even stronger than her own, always complimented by the captains as one of the best? Orihime looked at her husband and saw that the man also noticed the change his daughter's words brought to the group of shinigamis and was now looking towards the hallway with curiosity.

Ichigo frowned when no one supplied an answer to his inquisitive eyes and realized that it probably meant that whatever Hanako was feeling had something to do with Urahara's secret plan; he just hoped his daughter wouldn't be considered as a pawn thanks to her powerful perception, that, for the first time, he was considering might be stronger than Orihime's.

Ukitake was talking softly with Unohana and Orihime when all people in the room held their breath; a strong reiatsu was released in waves, coming from that dark hallway. Some seconds later, Yamamoto finally appeared and all the eyes were instantly glued to the man.

"Urahara finished his preparations!" the man announced.

"Okay, I'm done with all this bullshit" Ichigo roared, without noticing the reproaching look that Orihime sent his way "You know what is going on with my son better than me and I'm sick of this! Tell me immediately what is going on! What is Urahara doing in there? Why couldn't Rukia and Renji tell us what is going on? And what the fuck was that reiatsu just now?" he was fuming. He was never a man of patient and the shock of seeing his son fight him was quickly wearing off, leaving him with the desire to fight, to know what was going on, and to take part of the plan he knew the shinigamis were creating. Orihime looked at him and smiled, finally her husband was back from the dark place he had fallen in after all that happened in their home. She felt reassured by his anger, by his desire to fight and make everything alright again. She squeezed his hand and he pulled her against his chest, like he wanted to hide her inside his own body.

And then, everything changed…

She felt the reiatsu…

He felt the reiatsu…

And the light gray haired man, with his strange smile appeared from the dark corridor, waving like they were all old friends.

Ichimaru Gin was back…

And Kurosaki Ichigo thought he had just lost his mind…

* * *

**I know Ichigo is a bit off in this chapter, but try to imagine fighting your own kid, seeing him trying to kill you and your family... It must be rough, especially when he is so protective of his family. But don't worry, the fierce Ichigo is back.**

**Now, please review, I'm always curious to know your feedback in the story! ;)  
**


	15. Chapter 15 The return of the shinigami

**Chapter 15 – The return of the Shinigami**

_**Chapter's music – Vox Populi by 30 Seconds to Mars**_

* * *

Saying Ichigo was surprised would be too mild to express his dumbstruck face, his eyes popped out of their sockets, his tanned skin turned ashen and cold sweat run down his temple. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing, he just couldn't! He saw that man dead! And now here he was, like it was nothing... Remembering the woman beside him, he looked down, seeing her face mirroring his own... so she could see him too, at least he was not insane and that counted as a relieve, he supposed, but then, remembering why he felt relieved his insides felt like they were filled with iron. Shunsui was right beside Orihime, keeping one hand over her shoulder, like he was afraid she might collapse from shock or maybe trying to keep some kind of grip with reality, Ichigo was not sure what else might be…

The man was walking slowly, with fluid motions, surveying the people that filled the room.

"Oh, you're all here…" he said, smiling.

He looked thinner without the white haori, the blue clothes clashing with his pale face and hair. However, he looked like the last time they had seen him, like the time had no effect over him.

"_Well, he was dead **dead**, what did you expect?_" Ichigo's conscience thought to himself with a sneer and he had to agree in that point.

Gin stopped, half of his face hidden by the shadows, the other illuminated by the lamplights on the walls. Orihime couldn't stop herself from thinking that it was probably a good metaphor of that man's actions throughout his life. Part of it surrounded by Aizen's darkness and sometimes his own demons, but, in the end, all that counted was the main goal: protect one of her best friends from all the sadness and pain the world could make you go through.

And when her thoughts turned to Rangiku's absence, inquiring why she would choose to stay way in such a moment, the woman's reiatsu started approaching the place. Her daughter, apparently, noticed it too, because she was squirming in her father's arms, grabbing the attention of the visitor. He observed the three of them together and his eyes shined with something similar with victory or at least confirmation of some old theory. And when he stepped forward, with his eyes fixed over the little girl's back, whose face was turned waiting for her aunt, almost all the captains and lieutenants stepped forward, blocking her from his view. He smirked at them, and with a slyly voice said:

"I'm not gonna bite her, you know…" but even with that no one changed from their protective stance.

They could hear light footsteps approaching the door and two distinctive reiatsu, that everyone in that room could recognize immediately.

Orihime smiled when the door opened ajar and behind it appeared a disheveled Rangiku, quickly followed by a much more composed Toshiro. He was walking two steps behind her, eyeing her movements with some trepidation, shared with a nervous Orihime. They were the only two individuals knowing how much Rangiku cared and suffered for that man.

The blonde lieutenant walked through the group of assembled shinigamis and the three humans. They instantly parted like the Red Sea, creating a clear path to the woman, while Hitsugaya lingered beside Orihime and they traded a doubtful look.

If Ichigo didn't know Gin he would say the man was nervous: he kept smiling like usual, but there was an edge, something he couldn't pinpoint exactly, but that made him remember Ishida's face while he waited for Tatsuki's answer to his proposal and he thought to himself if he looked like that in that special day of his own question. Could it be that Ichimaru Gin, the creepy grinning former captain loved the flamboyant woman? He looked into his wife's face and saw the answer in her shining eyes... _Damn, he was getting good in all this feelings business!_

But then…

BAM!

Rangiku slapped Gin with so much power that the man wobbled dangerously, almost falling to the ground. Everyone suspended their breathe, eyeing the woman turn into a deranged puncher. She punched every surface available in Gin's body, while screeching curses at him. Hitsugaya stepped forward, ready to yank his lieutenant from the man, but Orihime, the supreme defender of no violence, stopped him with her arm.

"Look at him…" she said, pointing with her head the crumbled form that was Ichimaru Gin. "He is not defending himself… He is letting her vent all her pain and sadness…" she whispered and Toshiro realized that she was, indeed, right. He was standing there like a rag doll, letting the woman punch and slap his body like he had no care in the world. Ichigo, in the meanwhile was trying to keep his daughter distracted from the confusion, with no success; apparently, the girl thought the beating Rangiku was giving Gin much more interesting than her father's ramblings, and seeing in that an opportunity to teach her a lesson, the proud father whispered into the little girl's ear, away from her mother's earshot, "If a boy ever hurts you, you can follow your aunt's example and teach him a lesson!" and saw his daughter's eyes reproach him just like her mother would do.

In a moment, Rangiku's rampage would be viewed as unstoppable and the next the woman was letting her arms fall, releasing labored breathes and kneeling beside Gin. The man looked up from the floor with uncertainty, not knowing if she was just resting from her assault, but seeing her defeated expression hurt him more than all the punches and kicks, she would send his way.

"Fuck you, Ichimaru Gin!" she whispered, twisting her fingers over her lap and without looking to his face.

He giggled grabbing her attention and seeing him with that smile, which was only reserved to her, she couldn't stop her lips from smiling.

"You must be thinking I'm really screwed up, aren't you?" she whispered.

Gin nodded enthusiastically, making her punch his arm in a playful manner.

"Jerk…" she whispered and he smiled again, touching her cheek softly.

And then, remembering they weren't alone in the room, Gin looked up and around and extending his hand to Rangiku brought her to a standing position.

"I think you have questions for me?" he questioned, looking to Ichigo and Orihime for some moments and then finally directing his words to the Captain Commander.

"Yes, but I think it would be advisable to have this conversation in our reunion quarters, there we have space so everyone that wants to question you have the time and place to do it…" Yamamoto said and with an imperative nod, everyone followed him, leaving Byakuya and Komamura to take Gin under their surveillance.

* * *

The room was huge, with long rows of windows illuminating the place. Yamamoto took his place, at the end of the room, while everyone else took positions according with their hierarchy, with the exception of the three humans and Kaoru. The latter, taking Hanako's hand in her own made her sit beside her at a corner of the room, while Ichigo and Orihime sat in front of Ichimaru, who was kneeling right beside the Captain Commander.

All the playfulness of the last hour was forgotten when the mood in the room took into the emotions of those worried parents. Orihime couldn't think about how sweet she thought Rangiku and Gin's display was; she could only remember her son's eyes, dreadful and terrified, opposites that made her heart clench in a painful way. And Ichimaru's grimace, right in front of her, wasn't turning her emotions in any way calmer.

When silence ruled over the people in the room, Urahara, that was sat in the farthest position, much to his chagrin, spoke.

"Ichimaru Gin, we brought you here to answer some questions about Kurosaki Orihime's passage through Hueco Mundo…" Ichigo and Orihime looked at each other, and then at the surrounding shinigamis. Their faces were expectative, but not surprised, not even Renji's or Rukia's, who, apparently, were thinking the floor was the most interesting thing in the world right now.

"Wait a moment!" Ichigo roared. "No one told us about that! What has Orihime's kidnap to do with Katsuo's? And why no one thought it would be important to tell us this shit?" his reiatsu rose like a wave and some of the captains looked at him wearily. Only the whimper of a small girl made him get a grip of his power; when he looked into his daughter's brown eyes he saw a flicker of fear, making guilt wash over him like a storm.

"When Inoue Orihime travelled to Hueco Mundo according to her own will…" started Gin, to be interrupted by Ichigo's punch on the wooden floor.

"She was _kidnapped_! You know that better than anyone, bastard!" Ichigo yelled again, and would continue in his rampage if a small and warm hand hadn't grabbed his own.

"Please…" she whispered and he huffed, bringing her closer to his body. His arm was held protectively over her shoulders and she was almost straddling him, which made her cheeks blush because of the present companions.

"Like I was saying, when she travelled to Hueco Mundo, Aizen had already some info about her, not only watching her remarkable powers in action, but also, after letting her have a goodbye before her departure…" Gin said, smirking to a blushing Orihime.

"Goodbye?" Urahara asked, with his eyes curious, like he was watching the most absorbing movie.

"We gave her a bracelet that would hide her presence and the opportunity to say goodbye to one person… I think, regarding whose lap she is sitting right now, you can figure out who was the person of her choice… What she didn't know, was that the bracelet recorded and transmitted everything she would say…"

And then, Orihime's face was no longer pink, it was tomato red, not for embarrassment, but for rage. How dare those men pry into her most fragile moment? How dare they use that to create a data about her? How dare they treat such a delicate, sad and at the same time, lovely moment like her first confession to use in their plans? Her fists were shanking in her lap, and not even Ichigo's soothing words could calm her down.

"Imagine Aizen's delight at finding out how profound her feelings were… And then, rewatching all the images he had about, not only her, but Kurosaki as well, how they interact, how they would protect each other, he realized what he had in his hands was more than a teenager crush… And he used it and her body to create the perfect backup plan…" Gin said, and then, asked the question that made Orihime lose all her composure. "Where is your other son? I bet it was a surprise seeing him act like your old nemesis…"

"You cruel, emotionless bastard! What the fuck is happening to my son? What was that that Aizen did to me? Answer me or I will kill you!" Orihime screeched, jumping to her feet, to everyone's surprise, while Ichigo grabbed her around the waist, lifting her from the ground, as her feet kept kicking through the air to get to the grinning man. She couldn't remember Rangiku's happy expression at seeing him, or the lovely things she told her once about the man she was always afraid of; the only thing her mind could conjure were his words, over and over, mixed with Grimmjow's, all those years ago. She felt mad, deranged, not with the grinning man, but with herself. She felt like her own person was the enemy… If Aizen really did something to her, she was to blame for all that. _She was the reason her son was suffering!_

"You're feistier than I remember…" Gin drawled, smiling creepily and Ichigo felt tempted in releasing his wife and watch, amused, while the woman clawed the former captain's face.

And then, she fell to the ground in a crumbling mess.

"It's my fault…" she said. "The reason Katsuo is suffering… it's me… I'm the one to blame…" she whispered to a horrified looking Ichigo.

"No!" he said, shaking her shoulders. "None of it is your fault! It's all that fucker's fault! He is the one you should be blaming, not yourself…" he said, in a softer way.

"Your husband is right…" Gin said, and Orihime looked at him. "It was Aizen's plan all along… Even if you had decided not to go to Hueco Mundo, he would find a way… he had a keen sense to know those things… I bet he had a suspicion since the beginning, he probably used the bracelet just to verify his theory…If you didn't go there, he could have tried to kill Kurosaki and that would be a thousand times worse…" Ichigo looked to the man gratefully when he felt his wife's frame lose part of her tension.

"What was it… that Aizen did?" Soi Fon asked, observing her former enemy, and breaking the couple from their guilt trip.

"What you have to understand is that Aizen always had a million plans running through his mind in case something went wrong… And observing how they acted together he delineated his most… _how can I say?_... _**farfetched**_ plan, because, if he lost the war and had to use that plan it would depend not solemnly on him, but in how Orihime and Ichigo would act in the future… Knowing their powers he knew any child of them would be incredible powerful, but there was when everything was in peril: if they never got together that child would never be born and his backup plan would be a failure…" Gin said, to a captivated audience.

"But how could he control any child of them?" Kurotsuchi asked, almost drooling with the prospect of a new experiment he could study.

"Do you have a scar right over your womb?" Gin asked Orihime and she nodded, confused. "But you didn't have that before Hueco Mundo, am I right?"

"No, but I never thought about it, I thought it could be from the beating and since I just worried with my face I didn't spare a moment about it… After coming from there I just didn't want to think about what happened…" she said, without noticing how everyone raised their eyebrows at the word _beating_ and how Ichigo fisted his hands in barely control of his fury: she never told him in details what happened during that time, but with the years, snippets of that experience appeared, making him furious with each piece of the puzzle he would collect.

"That place was where Aizen inserted a small device, filled with his reiatsu combined with a DNA code that would insert himself in a growing child in that womb and would, besides protecting the baby from any external danger, make his body accept a soul transference from Aizen, acknowledging the external reiatsu as the same of the device and, thanks to the changed DNA code it would be possible to change the characteristics of the body so it would be able to act under Aizen's control…" Gin explained.

"So, Aizen's body is empty right now?" Ichigo asked, trying to understand the ramifications of such actions. The genetics part was too complex to his present state of mind; all he wanted to know was a way to kill the bastard once and for all.

"While he controls your child's body, yes, it is empty…"

"And if we destroyed it?" Ichigo suggested, in an inquiring tone.

"He wouldn't have a material body to come back once he wanted to, but if he let you know about his control over your kid I don't believe he was thinking about getting back to it… In the end, having a body that can walk easily in the world of the living and in Soul Society is a win-win situation…" Gin said, and Ichigo saw how that was true. If Aizen had his own body in the world of the living he would be just like an invisible spirit, an incredible powerful invisible spirit, but nonetheless a spirit in the real world, where his powers wouldn't be at their full potential…

"And... what about Katsuo?" Kaoru asked, voicing Ichigo and Orihime's biggest fear.

"Well, he is there, probably watching, but unable of acting of his own or just asleep, ignorant to the outside world…" Gin said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And how can we get Aizen out of the boy?" Rose asked and Gin grimaced negatively.

"We can't... at least not without the kid's help... While Aizen has the entire control you won't able of finding him, he is too strong and too smart, but if the boy could fight him, make him loose his concentration, we could prison him and with a special kido expel Aizen's soul from the boy's body…" Gin said, without entering in more information about the way of defeating Aizen. Ichigo thought that he was being smart and that just made him even madder, because the man was using his son's liberty to keep his importance and consequently his actual condition as a living soul.

"And if he can't…" Kaoru whispered, but nonetheless her voice echoed through the silent room.

"If he can't there's nothing any of us can do…The boy will be lost forever…" he replied.

"His name is Katsuo, not boy!" Kaoru said, looking at the floor with her fists trembling in fury. "And he is not lost!" she screeched, getting up unsteady.

Shunsui went to Hanako's side and grabbed her hand, like he had done so many times with his own daughter, but even with that gesture, he couldn't erase the last moments from her mind… They watched Kaoru run from beside them, punching the doors open and letting it close behind her back.

Her sobs were the last thing they heard before the oak door muffled any outside sound.

* * *

**My biggest chapter until now! I hope you liked how I showed Gin's return, with Rangiku and Orihime's roller coaster of emotions and Aizen's plans...**


	16. Chapter 16 Katsuo

**Chapter 16 – Katsuo**

_**Chapter's Music – Please don't go by Barcelona**_

_**The song Katsuo hears -** **English cover of Euterpe from Guilty Crown by Amanda Lee (LeeandLie) – you can find them on youtube, it just makes me shiver, it's really well done!**_

* * *

I couldn't believe I fell asleep during PE! Seriously, how can someone sleep while running in a soccer field? I must be a freaking sleepwalker! That's the only explanation for my lack of memory of the entire class; I remember watching Yukio grab the ball and then it's like a dark cloud fell over my eyes and I couldn't remember anymore…

When school is over and Hanako comes running towards me I can see something must have happened… She is pale, her face frowned in worry and her eyes are like two pools of brown trepidation.

"Katsuo-nii!" she squeals when she is close enough to surround my frame with her tiny arms.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" I ask, crouching to look directly into her eyes.

She observes me for large minutes, until she sighs and hugs me unexpectedly.

"I felt you disappear and when you came back I was scared…" she whispers and I frown, was she talking about my sleepwalking? Was she able of feeling me falling unconscious? I know she is much stronger than our parents think, she is always able of telling when dad is coming home from work even if his reiatsu in those situations is really calm and peaceful and mom is still unaware of that, but feeling that change in me worries me a little, but not enough to make me tell dad or mom… it must be because of my latest practice, I think I finally got the hang of it!

"Don't worry, kid! I'm fine, I just sleepwalked for some minutes… You know how dad likes to train and I was just more tired than normal…" I tell her, expecting she could relax and enjoy her afternoon with the ice-cream mom promised us this morning.

"But it was not the first time!" she whines, with her brown eyes shine with unshed tears. "When yesterday mom injured herself with that bowl I felt it too! It was just a second, but…" she looks at me like I should know what she is talking about, but I don't; I have no idea why mom was so worried and it worried me a lot, because everything was normal… at least that was what I thought… _until now…_

I try to smile and grabbing her hand, we walk toward home.

I feel my lip under my teeth and then the taste of blood that in my frenzied walk I draw. Was Hana overreacting? Or something was really happening? Damn, what should I do? I should tell dad, sure, but… I don't want to worry him… hum, I should keep quiet about it… Yes, that's a good idea, if it doesn't get better I will tell him!

* * *

I could feel Hanako's unease when aunt Rangiku and uncle Toshiro came here; she knows that something is not quite right and I know too, but I can't understand if it has anything to do with my lack of memory… It happened again today while I was walking to school… In a moment I was talking with Yukio and then the first class ended… Where was the time in between? The only thing I could remember were some flashes of the blackboard with numbers written, me raising my hand when the teacher made the call and Megumi asking me if I knew some answer… I don't want to admit, but I'm getting scared… this can't be normal… this is no sleepwalking… According to Yukio I was acting strange, in a detached way, to everyone, even the teachers… Like I was not sure what to say, even in a normal conversation…

I have to tell dad or mom… but what am I going to say? "_Hey, I think I'm going crazy, what's dinner?_" Jeez, even in my head it sounds stupid… and crazy… and possibly not far away from the truth…

Hana is looking at me and smiling, because I said nothing happened today... I'm such a liar, but her big eyes filled with concern break my heart. Whatever she felt, she wasn't able of doing it today… Why was it? I feel her small and warm hand surrounded by my own and I make a decision, I have to talk to the only person that can help me.

"Hey sis, what do you say if we go and visit dad? It's been a while since we went there..." I try to be the most nonchalant about this and my heart lights in my chest when she nods eagerly. And I feel guilty, but silently relieved that someone will know that I'm not okay...

* * *

I like to watch dad work, he is similar to mom in the way they furrow their eyebrows while looking at something, but mom is normally humming a tune and the only time I remember dad singing was during Hanako's first years when mom made him learn this weird song about a dango family, it's soothing and something from childhood, but now only Hana and mom know the lyrics, I still catch them singing it sometimes... Mom singing... that makes me remember my own lullaby, talking about wild flowers and people's relationships, mom 's voice involves me and when I notice we are already in front of dad's department and there it is, that familiar scowl that as a kid I tried to copy until dad told me I had every reason to smile like my mom...

He is worried, damn, I can't see him like that... and then, when I'm almost telling him, my mind gives me those weird flashbacks of a sandy place, with an orange haired woman screaming like she was in pain, while a man with a similar hair color laid on the floor with a hole through his chest... I knew those teenagers, they are mom and dad much younger and when that realization hits me a cold fear grips my insides and I can hear a voice telling me to keep quiet. I try to fight it, but my mind refuses to obey and the last thing I saw, before waking up, was mom falling beside dad with her eyes vacant and a line of blood running from her mouth.

Dad is mad and worried; he knows I'm hiding something… Hanako looks at me like I'm a stranger and mom is making me feel so guilty, talking with me like I'm the most precious thing in the world… I should tell them, I should… then why am I not saying anything? The voice, _that_ voice that doesn't let me be in peace, it haunts my nightmares and my waking hours, it makes me see things that are not real, like Kaoru laying on the floor in a pool of blood, Hanako gripping a bloodied sword, dad begging for mercy and mom looking from far away with cruel and cold eyes… _**I'm going crazy!**_

Since dad told me about the day grandma died, I can't stop myself from picturing mom in her place… And that man… he is using it, I know… I'm so scared that mom can be in danger that I skip class, using an excuse to go and check on her… But that was a mistake… I let my guard down and when I realized I was no longer talking with her, I was observing while he observed her with cynical eyes… It was the first time I was able of keeping awake… probably because I was now used to the sensation of having my body taken away… He says goodbye to mom and walks back to my house… How can he feel so at peace acting like me? _Who is he?_

I try to fight him, I really do… until my head feels like is going to explode and my chest waves like I just ran a marathon, but he is so much stronger… it's like being surrounded by an octopus, when I feel myself being freed just a little he clutches me on another side and I'm unable of using any kind of protest…

I feel so tired and hot, sweat runs down my temples while I sense grandpa's arms involving me… Where are dad and mom and Hana and Kaoru? I have to see them! I need them by my side…

* * *

_Why is Urahara looking at me?_ Why is he in my room? Wait… this is not my room… why am I in Urahara's shop?

"What is going on?" I ask, when he smiled at seeing me awake.

"Your father was madly worried about you… He will be happy that you are fine…" the blonde man said, helping me sitting. "Do you remember being brought here?"

Urahara was looking at me with his piercing eyes that made me uncomfortable. Did I remember being brought here? No, I can't even remember my last moment awake…

"What happened?" I asked, more rudely than was my intention.

"You had a high fever and were unable of discerning the people around you… In conclusion a severe case of dehydration consequence of the fever and probably some hallucinatory episode." Urahara said in a formal manner that made me uncertain.

_Hallucinatory…_ that means I probably had a hallucination, something perceived as real but only a product of the mind… could it be possible that what I've been feeling were consequences of a bug invading my immune system? What if they weren't? What if I'm only masking something more dangerous? But that feeling is gone… that feeling of being watched and commanded by someone… maybe this is it, maybe I was really crazy and now that Urahara found out what I have I'm going to be okay…

I'm brought back to reality when I hear my father's roaring voice. I look around and Urahara is nowhere to be seen, so it must be him the target of my father's wrath…

* * *

_He is crying, she is crying and I can't do anything to stop it_. I open my eyes and all I can see is a wooden ceiling. Around me hundreds of books are lying neatly in their oak shelves. The library is big and its silence makes me feel in peace for the first time since the last few days. I can hear, far way, children's laugh, Hanako and Shiro are probably running in the garden, chasing his white cat, under the watchful eyes of uncle Uryuu and aunt Tatsuki.

I sigh, remembering my night of insomnia after getting home from Urahara's. I was afraid of falling asleep, even if the tension over my eyes was getting stronger with each second. _Was I hallucinating?_ That was the question that kept popping in my mind… The truth was, since getting home, none of those horrific visions assaulted me, so maybe it was that simple… but something in me sneered at this naïve concept…

I feel my hair under my fingers when my irritation escalates and then… it escalates and escalates and escalates until a foreign fury invades all my senses… He is back, stronger than ever and my body immediately lost his power under that pressure. I try to fight, I feel something break under my fist and a warm liquid spreading from my knuckles but it's already too late to leave any evidence of an injury, I'm already flying and the blood falls innocently over the garden…

He takes us to an abandon factory, hiding our reiatsu so professionally that it even makes me doubt about my presence in this place, in this world… It's like he swallowed me, like I'm nothing more than a parasite… but the parasite it's him! He is the one that took my body and used it as if it was his own!

Why did I lie to Hanako? She couldn't feel the changes since he realized her power… he was so more careful, but I could have said something… Now it's too late…

I hear my voice whispering a kiddo spell and my hand starts healing slowly, not like when I'm under my mom's warm power, this time I can feel pain while my tissues try to regrow themselves and I can see a scar where the glass broke my skin… My mom would have done so much better! I scream in my mind, trying to rise him into a fight, anything that makes him loose control of his, I mean, our reiatsu… But he is smart, I can feel his energy inside me, it makes me remember when my dad and uncle Renji spar trying to keep the other down with their reiatsu and in this moment I know that that is what he is trying to do, he is trying to knock me down, keep me docile and stop me from creating any kind of situation that might make us be found and then, after hours of trying to fight him, trying to knock my head on the cement wall, trying to move just one little finger, I feel my energy being drained and not being able of keeping my mind awake, I black out, under his inner pressure.

* * *

I know this place… That bed, that guitar, those framed photographs, those posters… it's my bedroom, which mean we are in my house, walking through my family sanctuary... I have to get him out of here! But then, something grabs my attention… a green cloth over my bed… was he searching my stuffs? Looking for something that could help him defeat me once and for all or was he curious to know how my family and I lived? I don't know, but one thing I do know, I don't want him touching that blanket! It is mine, a memory from my childhood, something that even now, keeps my mom's scent all over it mixed with dad's and Hana's. When I touch the soft cloth I can hear a soft voice singing next to me that makes me feel loved and peaceful.

_Wild flower blossoming_

_I beg of you tell me this so I know too_

_Why do people fight?_

_They all act as if it's right_

_Don't they know_

_That's no_

_Way to live _

But then, the voice vanishes when I hear a door opening downstairs and I'm immediately pushed aside when my mind registers the fact that they are here. _Dad… mom… Hanako… Fuck, they are here! Shit, I can't lose my mind now, fucking darkness, no, I can't! Please, don't…_

_I see a man that resembles my dad with long black hair walking in my direction, he has such power in his stance that it makes me back off hurriedly, but I can't, I'm stuck and I can only see while he walks towards me… closer… closer… closer…_

Why is dad looking at me like that? Why is he dirty with blood? What is going on? A cascade of flashbacks fills my mind and what he did wins the forefront place in my head… No, no, that can't be, mom hurt, dad fighting to protect them and I... I'm the one that did all those things and in that seconds' gap I'm able of controlling my body and I see that dad realizes that, because he relents his attack… but that was a mistake and I apprehend that he did that on purpose to destabilize dad…

But when two more people joined the fight, I feel his impatience increase and I try to grasp that chance, I fight and I'm almost in control when he releases my dad and makes me run away, while, through the corner of my eyes I can see my dad in a bloody mess and my uncle Uryuu looking at me with sorrowful eyes…

We are once again in the abandoned building, while he tries to rein me under his control, but he can't… It was too much… the feeling of my mom's neck under my fingers, Hanako's pleas and her red rimmed eyes, dad's face holding pain and suffering for me when he could have ended that so easily… I almost killed my family! I start punching the wall over and over and over… I'm weak… I'm trash… I don't deserve them… next it's my head beating and beating and beating until the blood, warm and salty, gushes from my forehead, filling my eyes, my mouth, my neck, in his red cascade…

I have to go! I have to find a way to get him out of me! There's only one person that can help me and he is in Soul Society, according to a conversation I heard between my uncle and aunt…

And then, I feel the familiar sensation of my zanpakutou and the black robes around me… and I remember this is something my dad could never explain: why I can change into my shinigami form without losing my corporeal body… was it because my mom's reiatsu helped me sustaining my two beings in one? Was her rejecting power able of rejecting my division? Maybe… maybe not… it was something that we never looked into with much attention and right now it's not the time for a walk through theories… That is a function only Urahara can do with perfect control…

The gates open in front of me and I walk forward, relieved that I'm going to find help to all this mess I'm into…

_Bad move… for you…_ he whispers and when my feet touch the spiritual ground I'm immediately immersed under him.

_This is Soul Society and I'm a spirit, old and powerful, that has this place ingrained in me, it's in here I'm more powerful, it's in here that I can finally get my place back… Thank you, Kurosaki Katsuo, for you lovely help…_

And I realize all I did was because he left me… All I did was helping him getting where he wanted to be… Here, Soul Society…

* * *

**[RainingLight1, a small hint of Hanako's lullaby, I hope you noticed it!;) ]  
**

**This ch****apter happens in a quick pace, with all the scenes almost mixing up, but I wanted to show how messed up Katsuo really was and how he tried to be strong and win without anyone's help.**

**If you are angry with Urahara, don't be, if he had said something about his theory to Katsuo, Aizen would know as well, and he was already suspecting about Aizen's power over Katsuo, he didn't want to alert the enemy.  
**

**And, finally, if you are confused about the man with black hair that Katsuo sees while he is in his room, it really was Ichigo, in his Mugetsu form, as Aizen remembered him in his peak of power.  
**


	17. Chapter 17 Father and Daughter

**Chapter 17 – Father and daughter**

_**Chapter Music – Shining in the sky from Clannad's Soundtrack**_

_**The lullabies:**_

_**English cover of Euterpe from Guilty Crown by Amanda Lee (LeeandLie)**_

_**The dango family from Clannad (I can really picture Orihime singing it as Nagisa and Ichigo as Tomoya)**_

* * *

"What are you doing here, my dear?" he asked, softly, touching her shoulder with a fatherly gesture.

The woman turned around, with red eyes adorning her face. Her hair was in disarray, locks falling in front of her eyes that she couldn't bother to keep away… maybe they acted like a wall between her eyes and the cruel world.

"Ichigo is talking with Yasutora-kun and Uryuu-kun, explaining what happened… They are still in shock, I believe, after seeing _him_ alive…" she replied, with a sad smile gracing her pink lips.

Shunsui sat beside her, cross-legged, watching the moon shine over the garden in front of his mansion. He felt her reiatsu, timid and careful, approach his house and let her take her time, sitting in his home instead of approaching her with his flamboyant nature like it was normal for him. He preferred acting like she was here for five minutes before he found her, and not two hours… After feeling her reiatsu he immediately sent a hell butterfly to Ichigo, telling him where his wife was…

"It must be a shock… sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe I'm awake…" he said, while pinching softly the woman's cheek. She replied with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

He observed how, under the moonlight, her hair looked like a brown shade and not its normal auburn color and how the shadows under her eyes looked like they could swallow her face entirely… She was falling apart in front of him and he couldn't do anything to erase the cause of her heartbreak.

"They say it's not my fault…" she whispered and Shunsui observed her lips frowning. "They say it was Aizen, even Ichimaru says so, but, when I heard Ichigo telling our friends what we found out, I couldn't stop myself from wondering… if I wasn't so selfish wanting Ichigo I could have stopped this… if, from the beginning, I didn't let myself be ruled by my emotions… I hate this so much!" she said, fisting her skirt until they heard a ripping sound and the material lose the battle against her fingers. "I thought I was strong enough to protect him, I thought, after all those years, if something happened I could stop it before it came close to my children and now, he took my Katsuo… he took my baby…" she said, eyeing the ripped cloth in her hands with so much hatred that for some moments Shunsui was scared she had walked through a line she couldn't return. But when she looked up, with her brown eyes shining under the moonlight like a small child, all his fears disappeared.

"I want to be strong in front of them… I don't want to see Ichigo's worried face or Hanako's scared expression… but it's so hard and this pain… this ache… it hurts so much…" she said punching her chest like she wanted to rip those emotion from her heart.

"Orihime…" Shunsui whispered. "Your husband and your daughter know you better than you think… they know that behind your strong façade you're suffering, just like they are… you're human and those feelings are what make you such an amazing woman… Please, don't hide your fears from your loved ones… they don't deserve that you shut them out… and besides, you're being incredible stupid if you believe that Ichigo wouldn't understand your feelings… he knows just like I do that you're not to be blamed, that it was a misfortune… that your love for him is no selfish act, it is an act of the most pure and innocent feeling someone can feel… Please, don't taint such a blissful thing with Aizen's malevolent actions… He doesn't deserve such importance in your life!" he spoke, softly and calmly, while patting her head that was resting over his shoulder.

Orihime sighed and for the first time since she couldn't remember how long, left her eyelids drop and her mind rest under the watchful fatherly eyes. He kept touching her hair softly, until he started singing in a soft melodious voice, very different from his drunkard songs.

_Wild flower blossoming_

_I beg of you_

_Tell me this so I know too_

_Why do people fight_

_They all act as if it's right_

_Don't they know that's no way to live_

Shunsui fell silent, watching the woman's eyelashes tremble while she dreamed. He sighed, wondering if she was going to lose her child just like he did, all those lifetimes ago… Yes, it felt like it was ages since that day, but the raw pain was still there, lingering, like a burn that we forgot but that when touches anything pains like the first time it was felt.

"You know, Moriko used to sing this song…" Shunsui whispered, pushing a lock of hair from her face. "How I wish you could remember her, like I do… She would be so proud of you…"

* * *

"Daddy…" she called, softly, making the man turnaround from the window.

A hell butterfly was perched over his right index finger and the girl saw how the older man released the animal to the night.

"Where is mommy?" she asked, closing the distance between them with a soundless run.

"She is talking with a friend… an old friend…" Ichigo said, crouching to get eye level with his daughter.

"She is sad and in pain because of Katsuo-nii… Why did you let her go? You should stay with her…" Hanako said with her wise eyes burning holes in Ichigo's face.

The man sighed and standing up grabbed his daughter's hand and guided her to the Abarai's back porch. They sat looking at the lake, watching the fluorescent fishes illuminate their expressions.

"You know that mommy is a really strong woman, right? And that she is always worrying about us, if we eat enough, if we slept enough, if we did our homework in the right way…" he said, to which the girl nodded continually.

"And she always punishes you when you don't rest from your patrol…" Hanako added, making her father cringe.

"Yes, she always makes me take that red thing she calls a vitaminic drink…" he replied with a remorseful tone. "And, because of that, those last couple of days were really rough on her and she doesn't want us to see when she is sad or down, you know? She likes to keep her big brilliant smile and sing and dance with us…" Ichigo said dreamily, but when his daughter squeezed his hand, he remembered that he was not in a happy place.

He looked down, observing his daughter's face, furrowed in concentration, his damn scowl in place. He touched her face, trying to get rid of the wrinkles that she kept creating.

"You're so young… you should be playing with dolls and your toys, not waiting for a bad thing to happen… I guess it must be a curse from our family…" he sighed, remembering Orihime's and his own past, how they had to fend for themselves from a young age.

"It's not your fault, daddy…" Hanako said, touching his cheek with her warm hand. "It was the bad man, he is the one that hurt Katsuo-nii… but he is strong, he will fight him off when the right time comes and we will go home and mommy will be happy again, singing and dancing, like she used to…" Hana spoke, in a directive voice, like she could see it with her own eyes happening there.

"How do you know?" Ichigo asked, when the child let her head fall into his lap.

"I just do… daddy, can you sing me a song?" she requested, her eyes already closed.

"What song?" he replied, already having a feeling which one it was.

"Not Katsuo-nii's, this time I want my own…" she said, smiling.

Ichigo sighed, blaming Orihime in his head. It was her fault that she choose to each kid a different lullaby, according to her mother's instinct and of course, Hanako's would be something related with food, the only child he knew that could eat the same stuff as his wife.

_dango dango dango dango dango daikazoku_  
_dango dango dango dango dango daikazoku_

_The big dumpling family_  
_The big dumpling family_

_yancha na yaki dango yasashii an dango_  
_sukoshi yumemigachi na tsukimi dango_  
_osumashi goma dango yotsugo kushi dango_  
_minna minna awasete hyaku nin kazoku_

_The mischievous roasted dumpling, the gentle bean jam dumpling_  
_The moon viewing dumpling is a bit of a dreamer_  
_The sesame dumpling always looks prim, the quadruplet spitted dumplings_  
_Put all of them together to make a family of one hundred_

_akachan dango ha itsumo shiawase no naka de_  
_toshiyori dango ha me wo hosometeru_

_The baby dumpling is always in the midst of happiness_  
_The old dumpling narrows his eyes_

_nakayoshi dango te wo tsunagi ookina marui wa ni naru yo_  
_machi wo tsukuri dango boshi no ue minna de waraiau yo_  
_usagi mo sora de te wo futtemiteru dekkai otsukisama_  
_ureshii koto kanashii koto mo zenbu marumete_

_The friendly dumplings all hold hands and create a big round ring_  
_They laugh together while making towns on the dumpling star_  
_The rabbits wave from the big moon in the sky_  
_It takes all the happy and sad things and rounds them up_

"Thank you, daddy…" she said, sleepily, without opening her eyes, before her breathing calmed down to a sleeping pattern.

Ichigo sank his teeth into his lower lip, stopping his eyes from raining over his daughter's face… he could imagine how the storms in his inner world were assaulting Zangetsu and he could only hope the old man wasn't too disappointed in him.

"Orihime… I need you…" he whispered to the night, while his daughter fell into her world of dreams.

* * *

The woman opened her eyes and jumped from her soft resting place. Looking around she remembered the last moments before falling asleep and an ethereal song identical to the one she always sang to her son. She couldn't say what woke her, but she knew she was needed and it was not here!

Opening the shoji door and jumping to the garden's floor, she ran away. If she had looked behind while running, she would have seen a smiling captain observing her retreating figure with tears in his eyes.

The room was silent and she could hear the softly snores of a man and the breathing of a child, coming from an open door, that she knew would take her to the porch. Tiptoeing until she could touch them, she kneeled in front of the man's troubled face and touched it with her fingertips. His eyes immediately opened and his lips draw in a smile at seeing such a magical appearance in front of him. Kissing her hand, that was still connected with his face and taking care to no awake his daughter, he pulled her to his side, draping his arm over her shoulders and bringing her frame to rest against his body.

_If bringing his son back was so easy as bringing his mother to his side…_ he sighed.

But keeping his daughter's words in his mind, he finally let the warm released from Orihime's body to engulf his own, under his protective stance. He would fight for his son and he would bring him back, watch him being happy with a family of his own, with the woman he considered as another daughter. He would keep fighting Renji and cursing Rukia, while his son would watch with an exasperated expression over his face and his arm around Kaoru, yes, he would create that future and no one would stop him from reaching his goal!

* * *

**An angsty one, but I really like to push them into their raw moments of vulnerability...**

**Please, review!  
**


	18. Chapter 18 Saving her, saving him

**Chapter 18 – Saving her, saving him…**

_**Chapter's music –Heart of Stone by Iko**_

_** Game of Thrones' Opening Theme**_

* * *

She was sitting right beside the river, watching the current flow with the wind and time, the fireflies around her turning the place a magic vision. However, she couldn't see that ethereal space without picturing him next to her: he was the first one with whom she shared that secret place, after they kissed for the first time in the shadows created by Seireitei's festival gazebos.

She threw a rock to the water, watching it sink to the darkness under the flowing current and sighed. She felt just like that rock, with no help to emerge from her drowning feelings, thrown to someplace by someone she didn't know. Her zanpakutou, poised beside her, on the grass, reflected the moonlight, sending flashes of light against her eyes.

"A beautiful night to meet such an exquisite girl…" a male voice said behind her, his steps soundless in the grassy ground.

She jumped, surprised for not noticing his reiatsu, and turned around, finding a pair of brown eyes looking at her with curiosity. His smile, however, didn't reach his eyes, turning him into a strange combination of someone she knew from her first day alive and some_thing_ she had never met before.

"You know who I am…" he said, circling her, like a predator would do with a prey.

"You're a bastard!" she replied, without thinking.

_He _closed the distance between them and before she could articulate another word, he slapped her on the face.

"I would like if you kept those rude comments to yourself… I don't know what Kurosaki would say if he heard you talking like that about his son…" he whispered beside her ear, making her shiver.

"He would probably be happy that I called you, Sousuke Aizen, a bastard!" she said, before could stop herself. In those moments, she wished she was less like her hot headed father and just could shut her freaking mouth, but apparently, this time, the man wasn't going to hurt her. She seized the opportunity to grab her blade and expected while he kept observing with a smirk in his face.

Kaoru was breathing with difficulty, her chest hurting with each raspy breathe, when he spoke again, differently in tone and character from his previous words.

"Come with me, my dear…" he said, with _his_ voice, with _his_ lips, with _his_ way of talking with her.

"You are not Katsuo! You are a puppeteer that took over his body and I would never follow someone like you!" she screamed, almost reaping her throat.

"Aren't these the hands that you always seek to grab? Aren't these the eyes that follow you every time you enter the senkaimon? Aren't these the lips you search to touch with your owns? Isn't this the body you want to possess with your own?" her love's lips were drawn in a seductive smile, his tongue licked his lower lip and Kaoru felt her stomach squirm.

_Stupid, stupid! He is not Katsuo!_ She berated herself mentally when her cheeks flushed with his last words.

"I won't go with you! But I will save him!" she yelled and grabbing her zanpakutou forcefully ran forward to meet him.

"Such a bothersome…" he said languidly and with a flick of his wrist slapped her across the cheek, sending her flying against a tree.

"Tsk, just like a fly…" he scoffed, turning around and walking away.

"Stop!" a raspy voice called from his back.

He turned around and observed, with a flicker of surprise, how the girl was standing on her feet… wobbly, but standing nonetheless. She grabbed her white-ish pink zanpakutou and charged again, with a roar of anger.

When her zanpakutou touched his position he was no longer there, standing two meters from his original spot. She gawked at him, mesmerized by his speed; not even her father or Katsuo's moved in such a way. But, not swallowing her defeat, she charged again, this time using kiddo to create a copy of herself to charge at the same time.

"Are you really this idiot? Your kiddo is years away from being able of deceive me, child…" he said, and without a second thought he ignored the copy and protected his body from her blade. However, a shock ran through his body when he felt a kind of electric current ran through his back.

"What the…?" he asked, looking back with creased brows. The copy was no longer there, but apparently it worked according with the girl's plan.

"Lieutenant Hinamori is really good in creating new kiddo spells, you know? Maybe you shouldn't treat people like pets… you could learn something…" Kaoru said, jumping back to create some distance from her enemy.

"Hinamori…" he murmured to himself. "Well, apparently, she is better than I thought… but no problem, when I get my pawns back I will find her and see it for myself…"

"Your pawns? That's why you are here? To bring people into your demented fight?" Kaoru asked, observing the smiling face.

"Your boyfriend is an annoying pest, don't flatter yourself thinking I would use his body to recruit people… I just want my old zanpakutou and then… _goodbye halcyon days… _Hum, where did I hear this? Oohh, that was what that pet said when she left her house… I wonder how she is coping with all this…" he mused, making Kaoru more confused than she already was.

He felt her body starting to move and looked at her as if he had forgotten she was there.

"You know, I like to play, but I don't like to waste my time and you… you are making me lose time!" he said and in a millisecond he was in front of her, punching her face and making her fall backwards.

He rolled his eyes when she tried to stand up and he kicked, making her fly and hit the tree again, this time her head making a crushing sound against the trunk. He made an approving face and turned around once again, creating distance between them.

"_Katsuo… come… back…"_ she whispered, before her eyes closed softly.

The boy stopped and looked back, noticing the blood that ran from her head in a slow but continuous rhythm. He felt his stomach drop like he had swallowed a tone of iron and his fists trembled forcefully. A burst of reiatsu exploded from his body, making him fall to his knees when Aizen tried to regain control.

"_You stupid boy! What do you think you're doing? I'm the master, you're only my pet!"_

_"Let's see how much time does it take for my dad to get here…"_ Katsuo replied with a sneer and felt his spirit being crushed by the older man, however, this time he didn't kneel like when they entered Soul Society, this time he had a pulsing strength in his soul to fight; seeing Kaoru's face yelling for him, her red blood running because he had been a coward helped him see sense again. He was Ichigo's son, the hero of Soul Society, he was Orihime's son, the godness-like woman able to rise almost dead men from the ground, he was Hanako's brother, the girl that knew something was wrong with him even before he discovered it and he was Kaoru's boyfriend, the girl that put her life in danger to bring him back and no way in hell would he forget all those facts again. They helped him standing up and it was with a hard time that Aizen dragged him to a cave, fighting all the way, until _their_ body fell to the ground, exhausted with the spiritual exhortation.

* * *

The little girl woke with a scream, jumping from her father's lap and running to the garden outside. Her parents ran behind her, feeling the sudden burst of reiatsu disappear the next second.

Ichigo turned to look at Orihime's face and saw the pain displayed in there. Behind them, Rukia and Renji appeared, zanpakutou ready to get into action.

"Stay with Hana!" Ichigo yelled when he saw Orihime running toward the gate and she turned around with fiery eyes.

"I'm going with you!" she spat, her hairpins flashing dangerously and Ichigo almost stepped back. "Rukia, take Hanako to Shunsui-san's home, Renji go get Ichimaru and follow our trail!" she commanded in such a strong voice that no one had the guts to reply against her words. Ichigo pressed his badge against his chest and let his human body fall to the ground, without a second look.

Hanako immediately jumped to her aunt's back and in a second they had disappeared in the opposite direction taken by Renji.

"Let's go!" Orihime said and in the gap of a second she was almost out of sight. Ichigo shook his head, half amused, half terrified and quickly followed her. That woman was really going to be the death of him…

* * *

"Oh god!" he heard her whisper surprised when he appeared beside her. However, her eyes were not directed to him, but to a bundle of clothes fallen against a tree. Immediately, her hairpins flashed and a golden dome was created over the girl's body.

"Kaoru-chan…" Orihime whispered softly, patting her extended hand.

"Katsuo… come back…" she spoke in a frail voice.

Orihime gasped and looked around, like she expected her son to pop out of one of the bushes. Ichigo kept his distance, looking around to check over the place against any kind of surprise attack.

"We should search him…" Orihime suggested, eyeing how her husband was stopping himself from running through the woods.

"You stay here with Kaoru, I will go and find him!" Ichigo said, with a no-nonsense voice and before she could reply, he disappeared from her view.

The woods were silent when Ichigo's steps fade away and for some instants she felt compelled in following him, but the vision of a girl lying in her own pool of blood made her give up her idea. When finally the rustle of leaves made it's sound be heard again, it took only one second before Renji and Rukia appeared, followed by Gin, Sado and Ishida.

The parents stopped dead in their tracks when they saw their child on the floor. Rukia made a strangling sound and fell to her knees beside her daughter's head.

"It was Aizen…" Orihime said, when Renji looked at her with fulminating eyes. He was readying himself to follow Ichigo's track when the girl stirred and opened her eyes.

"He wants his sword…" she whispered, making the adults gawk at her. "He wants an army…" for her, those information were the most important thing she had to convey right now.

"He needs to open a Garganta and his sword is the only thing that can help him, since is embedded with hollows' power to be able of doing such a thing…" Gin quickly explained.

"Where is it?" Ishida asked, looking at Gin.

"Since Urahara used it to bring me back he must be the one knowing its location…" Gin replied and Renji stepped forward.

"I will guard it, since we have to get Kaoru home we will take care of it. You can keep searching for Katsuo…" the red-headed man said, grabbing his daughter with his arms and bringing her against his chest, bridal-style.

They traded a look and nodded simultaneously, while Orihime's powers returned to their normal form in her hairpins.

"We should separate ourselves in two groups to make the search safer…" Ishida suggested and Sado nodded gravely.

"I will stay with the princess, something tells she will be able of finding her son better than anyone…" Gin replied and Orihime tensed.

_Being with him, all by herself? Feel his presence right beside her own in the dark of night?_ She stopped the shiver that ran through her spine and nodded, noticing how her friends' expressions darkened. Even Renji was feeling tempted to stay behind and left Kaoru with Rukia, but a look in his daughter's fragile face made him change his mind and was with a foreboding feeling that the Abarai family left the place, turning to look at Orihime more than once, before they were engulfed by the trees.

* * *

**Ando now things are going to heat up! Please, review! I always want to hear your feedback!**


	19. Chapter 19 The small key

**Chapter 19 – The small key**

_**Chapter's music – Empty Room by Marjorie Fair**_

* * *

Ichigo was running through the woods, barely seeing the trees that disappeared with each step. He was grumbling under his breath, fisting his zanpakutou inside his hands. He couldn't believe that he left Orihime behind, after she made him promise to let her fight beside him… but… right now, when he wasn't sure what would wait them ahead could he really keep that promise? It wasn't the first time he broke a promise with her… he could remember painfully well how he let her get hurt, how he let those monster take her away from him, how he almost lost the sun of his world… _No, it was not the time to be thinking about that!_ His son needed him and even if he had no idea where he was, he was going to find him, even if he had to burn the entire forest that separated them!

* * *

Orihime was running, following her own sense of feeling others reiatsu. Her eyes were dry; no more tears were running through her face. It looked like she turned into stone in a turn of a second. She couldn't let her emotions rule over her rationality, she had to be able of attack and react with her husband's speed; she had to be able to kill, even if that made her shiver and become a bit nauseous… but when her memory would recall her son's fearful eyes all those feelings just left her, like her heart was stolen away with her boy.

* * *

Gin was running, following the woman that he always thought as a weak girl, almost a pet, but that was showing him how looks could deceive. She turned into a lioness, searching for her lost cub and he could barely suppress the grin that took over his face. Aizen was right when he said she was the best of them, the one they should fear, even if at that time, all Gin did was laugh and think the man was crazier than he thought.

* * *

Sado was running, with his mind immersed in what he saw in their best friends' house and now, in that place beside the river. Could they save their boy or were they only running to a hopeless situation? He shook his head trying to get rid of those dangerous thoughts. Of course they would save him and he would help them doing that, protecting his family like he promised all those years ago!

* * *

Ishida knew they were all running, running to save an innocent boy from a devastating ending, but while he did that, just like the other people, he was able of observing how his companion's face scrunch and then smoothed with a new determination. He smiled inwardly imagining what his friend was thinking and sighed, his thoughts taking a darker path, while searching for any sigh of Katsuo's or Aizen's reiatsu; he was afraid, more than he could ever admit… He was afraid that they were too late, that they had to take radical measures to stop Aizen once again… Could they really do such thing? Were those parents able of killing their son to keep the world from its entire destruction?

* * *

Ichigo stopped in his tracks, looking around with crazy eyes. He couldn't feel a thing… even Orihime's reiatsu, always so easy to find, was turning into a difficult thing to feel. He was letting his emotions rule his mind, his rational thought slashed by the fear of a father losing his son. Roaring in anger, he punched a tree and started running in the opposite direction he was taking previously.

* * *

The two companions felt when the other two persons started chasing them. They stopped in their tracks and let the two men reach them, before restarting their running.

"No signal of my grandson?" Isshin asked and Sado shook his head somberly.

"What are you doing here, Isshin-san?" Uryuu asked, eyeing the man from the corner of his eyes.

"I tried to stay back, but when that portal closed… It was like… well, I had to come here… I couldn't let my family risk their lives… if someone has to die it better be me… In the end, I'm the one that lived the longest and the fullest… It would be a good way to finally go to search for my Masaki…" Isshin said, and Uryuu noticed, with surprise, how serious this man was.

"_What the hell is wrong with your family?_ Are you all suicidal? Because I know what that son of yours and Orihime-san are thinking!" Uryuu exploded, stopping to look into the man's eyes. "Don't you think about the little girl that you left behind? Don't you think about your daughters?" he roared, making some birds take fly from a nearby tree.

"What would you do if it was your wife or your son?" a soft voice spoke, from behind Sado and the gigantic man turned to look to the fourth man.

"Captain Kyouraku…" Ishida said, like he had forgotten the man was also following them. "Why are you here?"

"I also have someone to protect… someone that I lost and that I found…" he said, enigmatically and Uryuu furrowed his brows with distrust.

"There's no time to be talking…" Sado remembered, with his dark eyes shining behind his mane of a hair.

Ishida looked one last time to the two men, trying to see if they were trying to get themselves killed in the process or if they were trying to fight and live to tell the story… Knowing that he could never be sure, Ishida started running again, hearing the movement of air through his companions' bodies, following closely behind him.

* * *

The forest was turning into a thicker maze of crashed limbs, elevated roots and overpowering shadows with every step she took, however, something kept telling her to run in that direction, even if the path looked like a direct road to hell, she had to keep running and running and running… And she was sure she would still be running even after being dead if she couldn't find any trace of her child.

And then, a flicker, a smell in the air, a warm in her hands and she was running in full speed mode, with Gin following her for a moment with his wide eyes, until he regained his wits and followed the woman.

The branches hit her fully in the face, making her cheeks, her arms, her legs bleed, but she couldn't care less, now she was sure! She felt him, weak and behind a veil of something she couldn't discern, but still, he was there, waiting for her!

When the trees suddenly disappeared she sighed in relieve and sped up, until her feet lost the feeling of ground under them and her stomach felt like it was residing next to her heart. If it wasn't for a firm and cold hand grabbing her right arm, she would have found her end inside the tumultuous river.

Gin pushed her to solid ground again and shakily she looked at him, appreciation written all over her face. She bowed respectfully and looked down, trying to see where her son's reiatsu was coming from. Her heart constricted when she imagined him falling to those deadly waters, but immediately erased that thought, he was week, but was still alive and fighting!

"I should have known…" Gin murmured to himself and Orihime looked at him questioningly. "It's an old hideout of him, from his first days of scheming, when he had to have meetings with characters far away from your gentle friends…" he answered, noticing her look.

Orihime kneeled beside the gigantic cliff, trying to see, through the rocks and weeds, any entrance to that hideout Gin mentioned.

"There!" he said, pointing from his standup position to an almost invisible opening in the other side of the river.

"And how do we get there?" she asked, searching for any kind of hidden stairway.

"With flash-step…" he said in a tone that made her feel like a child. "Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot you couldn't do that…" he said, in a tone that said clearly he was not sorry at all. Orihime frowned and her hands fisted, but with a smile she stood up and looked at him in challenge.

"I didn't want to use my powers before we found Katsuo, but just like you said, I can't flash-step…" and with that, her hairpins flashed and a dome formed under her feet, elevating her from the ground. Gin looked at her, with surprise barely hidden and smiled.

"Very well, I see your husband and you have been training…"

"Since you mentioned Ichigo, I need to ask you a favor…" she said, the gold under her feet disappearing to turn into her fairies, that took their places sitting over her shoulders.

"What?" he asked, noticing her reiatsu flicker with doubt and a little… _fear?_

"I need you to find my husband and bring him here…" she said, biting her lower lip.

"While you…?" he started.

"While I search for Katsuo and try to talk to him…" she said, her eyes shining under the moonlight. Her skin was ashen colored, the red of her blood coloring her cheeks and making her look like a corpse. With her hands dripping with small drops of blood, Gin thought that she looked, not like a corpse, but like a vengeful angel, brought from the depths of the earth to judge the impure ones.

After some moments he had to look away, to show that he was thinking about her plan. He looked at the cliff, the opening of the hideout and then to the woman, whose eyes were looking to her fairies, like she was talking with them mentally. He could imagine Rangiku's rage when she found out what her friend asked of him… and what he decided… He sighed, knowing it was the only way for him to be able of keeping a small probability of remaining free… Yes, he knew his actual condition as an almost living being was in peril if this all ordeal ended well, but it was in even worse state if it ended bad… If the outcome was positive he could always persuade those Kurosaki to testify in his behalf… and everyone knew how their opinion mattered in Seireitei…

"Alright, I will bring him here…" he said, taking her attention from her fairies.

Orihime nodded and with a sad smile said "Please, if something happens to me, I want you to make Rangiku the happiest woman on Earth… And… I know Ichigo will have other people to look out for him, but I'd really would like if you said to him how much I love him and how much I will always love him… and to give him this…" she said, playing with the collar of her blouse. When she fished out the thing she was looking for, she took it from around her neck and let if fall over his stretched hand.

Gin touched the object curiously, turning the small key in the necklace between his long fingers and noticing how the woman's red blood looked like small rubies in the metal. It was too small to belong to a house, a chest or anything else he could think of that could be locked.

"A diary…" she said, softly. "From my halcyon days…" and she jumped.

* * *

**Later than usual, but my exams were a pain in the ass... This was an experimental chapter, since I wanted to write almost all the principal characters from a point in common like running towards something, even if that something would bring them pain or fear... And as I'm writing about Gin more and more I find myself liking him more with each chapter...**

**Please, tell me your thoughts on this!**


	20. Chapter 20 A mother's heart

**Chapter 20 – A mother's heart**

_**Chapter's music - English cover of Euterpe from Guilty Crown by Amanda Lee (LeeandLie)**_

* * *

She could feel the warm of her powers under her feet, warming her bare legs, while the wild river kept running through miles under her.

The opening to the cave was hidden behind the falling branches of a rotted tree, whose dead limbs made her shiver when it touched her skin. She jumped from her golden platform, touching the rocks in each side of the cave with her fingertips, making sure it was real.

Inside, the walls were humid, the drops of water falling in a continuous song all around her. She could see the fungus growing between the stones, the soft touch of moss under her hands and the smell of iron mixed with the water.

The small corridor ended in a large cave, in which three halls, beside the one Orihime just existed, appeared as suggestions for the next part of the journey. However, she had no doubt, she could feel it better than before… it was like the cave entrance acted as a veil and walking through it made her join the inside world of Aizen's past and her son's present.

While she walked to the hall right at the middle, she saw how two small spots of a red liquid colored the grey floor. She kneeled, touching the blood and knew it belonged to her son. Fisting her hands she mixed the boy's blood with her own from her bleeding wounds and walked forward with a renewed energy.

However, what expected her at the end of the corridor made her stop, her heart beating loudly and pumping the blood through her veins in a rush of adrenaline, her ears filled with the rushing liquid to her brain. When she calmed down, she noticed it wasn't exactly the same place of her old dream, the cliff which she would repeatedly fall from… No, it was different, the floor was not so slippery, the wall had some torches perched in iron stands, but the feeling of doom was exactly the same… Could it mean that Aizen's reiatsu made more than just save her life and her son's? Could it bring some of his memories to her mind? Or was it just a product of her body telling her that something was not right with her son? She probably would never know, however, the coincidence made goosebumps rise in her arms and was with a sense of dread that her feet touched the small passage.

The darkness around her made her think of Las Noches, always evolved by a blanket of sadness, sorrow, regret, death… _She didn't belong there, just like she didn't belong here, however, just like all those years ago she walked willingly, not knowing if she would ever see the sun again or her love's face or her children's smiles or her friends' antics… She wasn't a pessimist person, she didn't like to think about her death or how life could go on after she entered Soul Society once and for all, but, seeing how the darkness stretched in front of her, she couldn't stop her mind from wondering through those paths. She knew how Ichigo would react, he would scream and kick, he would fight until he saw that there was no solution and then… he would come to her… she wish he didn't… they had their children… their children… Katsuo… Hanako… crying… begging to have their parents back… like she did with Sora… like he did with Masaki… pain… so much pain brought into those two faces ingrained in her heart…_

**_Stupid, stupid, stupid! How can you think those things when you have those children to take care of? How can you think about dyeing when you know Ichigo would try to follow you… Even if your friends were able of stop him, he will turn into the shell of a man, a ghost inside his own body… How could you think about creating that kind of pain and suffering in those beautiful souls? Fight back, you coward!_**

Orihime shook her head and slapped herself hard on the face, forgetting where she was for a moment; the darkness no longer looked so doomful and the cold disappeared partially from her skin. She was not going to be defeated by her own insecurities and when she made herself promise that no one was going to take her away from her family, her feet touched another kind of ground and the cliff ended abruptly… staying behind her, just like her fears and personal demons.

"Was it some kind of test?" she asked herself, remembering her dark thoughts while walking through that cliff. "Was Aizen trying to stop someone that tried to come here through their fears? A protective kiddo perhaps…" she wondered out loud, and with a smirk, she said to hole. "_I beat you, bastard, and I'm going to do that again by recuing my son! And then… I'm gonna kill you!_" and with those words she walked forward, without looking back to make sure the abysm was still there.

* * *

It was like her heart was on a flame, pumping hot blood through her system. Her steps were more energetic, until she started running. He was so close, she could almost feel her arms surround his frame and bring him against her chest…

And then… she saw him…

He was there, in front of her…

Sitting on the floor…

"Katsuo…" she whispered, seeing the boy stir and look up.

"_Hello mother_…" he said and Orihime knew it was not her son answering. She shivered, but kept her stance, determination radiating from every pore of her body.

"Aizen…" she said, no honorific complementing the snare that left her lips.

"Orihime…" he replied, standing up and dusting off his clothes, like it was an everyday occurrence for them to meet.

The woman wanted to step back, the goosebumps rose with each step he took in her direction and her heart beat like a jackhammer inside her chest. Her hairpins were flashing, her powers barely restraining themselves under her fury. She could feel her hair flick and blow away with her reiatsu rising to unknown peaks; it was the first she felt this way in front of an enemy… an enemy using her son's body, face, voice… She felt the power fall like a heavy rain from a dark cloud and her hair stopped moving and her hairpins stopped flashing, leaving her with a heavy feeling on her chest.

"Impressive…" he said, appreciatively. "I knew you were more than a pretty face when I saw you… You really are a gift from the gods…" he said, closing the distance between them and stopping five centimeters away from her.

The woman could see the birthmark of her son, the small signal in his temple normally hidden by his hair, that Ichigo always said looked like one of her hibiscus. She could see his hair, longer than ever before, just like his father's when he appeared after learning the Final Getsuga Tenshou. She could see all of that, however, she couldn't see her son…

"You disgust me!" she said, her heart breaking with those words being said to her son's face.

Aizen smiled and his smile was nothing like Katsuo's, it was cold, menacing, almost deranged. He grabbed her chin with freezing hands, just like he did the first time they meet and she answered with a cold look of her own. He yanked his arm away and a slap resounded in the cave's walls. Orihime felt her head beat against the wall and the sounds and colors mix in a cacophony of sensations; she could feel a warm liquid bubbling from her forehead, the smell of iron right beside her nose and sweetness on her lips. The smell, the taste and the pain of her blood oozing from the wound where making her dizzy and she had to support herself against the wall; she could hear the voices of her fairies in the back of her mind yelling their support to her and she had to smile at those. When the ringing in her ears stopped she looked up to see her son's eyes widen in surprise and fear… Her son's eyes, not Aizen's eyes… She smiled warmly and stepped forward, with her arm stretched in front of her. However, his eyes jumped from her hand to the cave's wall, and then to the passage behind her; his lips were trembling and his hands fisted his orange hair, pulling it with rage.

_He hurt her, he hurt the goddess that gave him life! That gave his father love and his sister the best protection she could have. He made that blood… so much blood… ran through her face… he slapped her face… He wounded the skin that always brought him comfort…_

_He hurt Kaoru too, the woman he always loved, the woman he could see spending her days right beside him… the woman that put her life in danger to save him… How could such a despicable being like him deserve her? How could he expect her to still be waiting for him?_

_He didn't deserve any of them, he was a monster!_

**_Yes, you are, that's what we are… Monsters… Beings that live only to bring pain and misery and decay to everything we touch… But monsters are powerful beings… they have everything they want… they don't need to wish anything, they already have it all… We will have it all… Just let me reign again and we can do so much more than those pitiful humans… You already felt the immense power I held… Don't you want it? Don't you desire it? You could protect those women with it…_**

_Yes, he could protect them… They would be safe and he could be with them… He could keep his entire family safe… His mother, his father, his sister, Kaoru… He could do it. What was so wrong in wanting some kind of power? His father desired it… he trained to become stronger, so he could protect their family… why couldn't he do the same?_

_He saw her hand, extended in front of her small body… she was calling him… she wanted him beside her… _

_Katsuo, he heard her say… Yes, that was his name, not Monster, not Aizen, his name meant hero, victorious child, because he protected his mother from death, just like his father told him when he was old enough to hear that story… He protected her as a baby… when he was weaker than nowadays… then why was he desiring more? His mother loved him all the same… His father was proud of him all the same… His sister held him in a pedestal all the same… Kaoru… Kaoru wanted to live beside him, cherish him, love him, protect him, all the same… He didn't want any more power… He wanted them back, he wanted his normal life back, his human friends messing around, his shinigamis friends laughing, his family waiting for him every day, after school… He wanted that! He was going to get that!_

He roared and fell against the cave's wall, writhing from her reach. He opened his mouth and started whispering words that made her arms fell heavy like they had something over them.

And in a moment she was no longer seeing her son in front of her. She was hearing a woman's voice through her mind, brought from the shadows of the past.

_When the sky has cleared_

_And rains have passed_

**She could see her: she was singing while lulling a small toddler in her arms.**

_I still won't forget the past_

_You are not alone on your own_

**The baby was reaching for her long hair, trying to play with it. His orange hair fell in disarray over his small eyes, while he tried to keep himself awake. The tears' tracks were still noticeable over his rosy cheeks.**

_I remember you back then_

_Trembling in front of me_

_Crying deep inside silently_

**And then the baby was looking at her again, with aged eyes pouring salty water, while his hands fisted his hair and pulled.**

_When you see loved ones withering_

_What do you do with your remaining time_

"Katsuo!" she yelled and the boy looked up, no longer her baby. And with that look of lost innocence the last remembrance of the song flew away and she realized the lullaby didn't come solely from her mind; he was singing it all along…

_I'll sing in your memory_

_All the times you've spent with me_

_We've lost your name but I'll sing for you_

"Mom…" he whispered and then fell forward, his arms dead weights beside his trunk.

Orihime ran, her arms extending in front of her to support his body against her own. He was too heavy for her in her still dizzy state and so they fell toward the floor together.

"Orihime!" she heard someone scream in the distance, a voice she knew all too well.

"Ichigo…" she whispered against her son's hair. "Your daddy is here…" she sighed and waited with a smile for her husband's return.

* * *

**No, this is not going to be this easy... They will suffer a lot in the next chapters, just so you know... Be prepared!**


	21. Chapter 21 The Souls' Fight

**Chapter 21 – The Souls' Fight**

_**Chapter's music – Bloodstream by Stateless**_

* * *

The two sets of feet were pounding the rocky floor, approaching the place where they could feel the two reiatsu, one of them so weak it looked it was almost dead.

"Katsuo…" the orange haired one moaned, feeling how low the reiatsu of his son was.

When they finally found the pair, on the floor, Ichigo ran to them, engulfing his wife and son in his strong embrace. Orihime rubbed her face against his chest, feeling his smell of chocolate and a musky scent that could only be described as Ichigo's, enveloped her senses. She could feel her son's breathing against her neck, while his face was kept over her shoulder by Ichigo's arm.

"I found you…" he whispered, crushing them against his frame, until someone yanked him away from his family.

"What the fuck?" he roared, looking around to see Gin grabbing his black clothes.

"We have to be quick, I don't know how long it will take until Aizen regains control…" the silver haired man said with a grimace.

Ichigo looked back to Orihime, who was still clutching their son's head against her lap. Ichigo approached the pair and took the boy from his mother's hands, supporting his weight against his body. Gin was already messing with something inside his robes' pockets and when he opened his hands, they could see a silver dagger and a small bowl.

"Where that came from?" Ichigo asked, observing the man drawing the blade from its scabbard.

"I brought it with me from Seireitei, we will need it to save your son…" he answered. "Now, give me some of your blood…"

"What?" Orihime replied, not sure she heard right, but noticing the serious expression on the man's face, she immediately draw her sleeve up to show a delicate arm.

"This is going to help Katsuo?" Ichigo asked, wanting to be sure about those procedures and his consequences over his son's safety.

"Yes, it's the only way… I'm going to draw a symbol, a locket you could call it, that will keep Katsuo's body from being invaded again, after we are able to expel Aizen… and since you're his parents, besides your abnormal high reiatsu, your blood will the most powerful way to do it. It's a little trick I learned while reading some of Aizen's work… without his knowledge, obviously…" Gin said, and smiled in a disturbing way.

"You said from being invaded again… does it means we have to do another thing to release him?" Orihime asked, while Gin approached her, with the blade shining under the torchlights.

"I have to do something. Just like I said, I know the spell that can release your son, however, it will be painful, like you saw when he tried to free himself; separate two souls inside the same body it's one of the most dangerous and painful things we can do… The pain could be too much that he will go insane… He could surrender to Aizen just to get rid of the suffering… I'm not sure that you can get him back…" Gin said, while Orihime and Ichigo's eyes widen in horror.

"You bastard! You didn't say anything about that during the meeting! You were double-crossing us again!" Ichigo yelled, while Orihime jump to her feet to stop her husband from cutting the man in slices.

"Ichigo…" she whispered. "_He will win…"_

Ichigo looked down, to see his wife's hands sprayed over his chest and her brown eyes shining with unshed tears. However, those salty drops didn't fall while she kept her eyes fixed in his and he understood that she was ready to do anything to have their boy back, even see him scream in pain; all the screams would cut her deeper than any blade would, but she would hear and support them all the same…

"I don't want to see him suffer…" Ichigo whispered, like a small child, his voice trembling in the last word.

"Me neither… but I know he would hate us if he knew we had a chance to save him and gave up…" Orihime replied, grabbing his hands. "Please…" she said once again and Ichigo nodded, his eyes prisoners of hers.

Gin approached the pair, the dagger in hand and Ichigo extended his hand to grab the blade. "I will do it…" he said, answering the man's inquisitive stare. Even if it was a stupid thing to be thinking in that moment, he didn't want the man touching his wife.

"Very well…" he whispered, while Ichigo, biting his lower lip until it was white, approached Orihime's fair skin. A line of red appeared in her arm and Ichigo swallowed his repulsion at seeing her blood being drawn by him. Grabbing the dagger more steadily he cut his own skin and both of them let the red drops fall inside the small bowl.

Gin mixed the blood with his index finger and ripping apart Katsuo's shirt, draw a circle and then a triangle inside of it; between the lines of the geometrical figures he draw some symbols that neither of the parents could read or know the significance, all the while, while murmuring in a soft voice.

The blood mark over Katsuo's chest, when Gin took his finger away, shone in vivid red, like it was in flames and then… _the screaming started…_

Nothing could have prepared them to what they witnessed that night… Even if a century passed by, they would never forget those dark hours, the pain, the sorrow, the sadness that those terrified screams evoked in them.

Katsuo started trashing around, his hands clenching until his nails cut his skin and his hands were bloodied. Orihime tried to grab them, to keep him from hurting himself, but the only thing she was able of doing was making him cut her instead of him. Ichigo grabbed his other hand, trying to support his son the only way he could in that moment.

* * *

His father was fighting him… His sword in a lethal position, ready to strike again… It didn't matter how many times he screamed for him to stop, he kept slashing and cutting and crushing and his yellow eyes, shining from under his wild fringe, were so crazy like any hollow he would find in the darkest pit of Hell.

"_Dad… please…_" he begged, when his father cut his left hand out, leaving a red cascade in its place. "_Please… stop…_" he whispered, but was cut by a cold laugh that made shivers ran through his spine.

"Stupid useless boy!" a female voice spat and he looked up from his handless arm. Her long auburn hair was flying with the blowing wind, looking down at him with a cold expression plastered over her face. "Stop crying like a baby! You were always such a disappointment!" she said with a sneer and Katsuo saw his mother's foot kick his stomach in the side.

He couldn't stop the ruthless attacks; they came under the image of kicks, punches, screams, injuries… he couldn't ignore it, for how long he tried… He could feel every broken bone, every drop of blood… but what hurt him the most was his father and mother's cold voices, how they kept injuring him through their brutal words…

And then they were quiet, so quiet he had to look up to make sure they were still there. His father was grabbing a flameless torch and his mother a lighter. When they saw him looking, the woman approached the torch with the lighter and created a flame so hot he could feel it from some meters away.

"_Burn!_" Ichigo said and with a grin threw the torch over him, igniting his body on fire.

Katsuo screamed, trying to put down the flames devouring his body, but the pain was too much, leaving him only the strength to scream for help. The only thing he could see were his parents, observing him with those detached expressions. He couldn't understand… they were always so sweet and loving and supportive… they were the best parents he could imagine… What have he done that deserved such a punishment? Why were they acting like monsters? Like _monsters_?

**_Yes, you are, that's what we are… Monsters… Beings that live only to bring pain and misery and decay to everything we touch… _**

He knew those words, he heard them not so long ago… And they weren't said by his father or mother… They were said by him…

And then, he remembered… His mom's warm embrace… how her sweet voice lulled him to sleep when he was a child and dreamt of hollows and other dark things… how she would always have a dessert ready after a difficult test… And his dad's wise eyes… his strong arms that taught him how to play basketball and baseball in the park… how he always observed his swift moves with amazement until he disappeared from his view to reappear behind him and tickle his sides…

_No, those persons couldn't be his parents… They weren't his parents! Where were they? Were they in danger? Were they held captive while those two illusions tortured him?_

_"Mom! Dad!"_ he screamed inside his mind, trying to think through all the pain he was suffering. He couldn't breathe and his mouth felt like it was full with sand, his eyes were hurting from the flames, his blood was pooling under him and he felt like his skin was falling from his body. He could no longer see the flames, but he could feel them. He was tired, so tired, he wanted to close his eyes and rest, just for a bit… He felt his eyelids get heavier and heavier, until he could no longer fight against them…

* * *

**Sorry to end the chapter like this, but I really love writing cliffhangers and this was the last really dramatic one that I could do... So please, don't send your inner hollows to chase me!**

**What do you think about the chapter? Please, comment! I don't like to ask, but the comments have been decreasing and I want to know if it is the quality of the story that is not satisfying enough or all my grammar errors, or that you don't have time to write. I want to hear from you, guys!**


	22. Chapter 22 The strenght reborns

**Chapter 22 – The strength reborns**

_**Chapter's music - Superman by Five for Fighting**_

* * *

"_Katsuo!_" he heard someone yelling, a female voice that made him jump from its clarity right beside his ear. He looked around to see a small necklace beside his head, a necklace with a stone and his name written on it, a necklace he remembered as being a gift from Kaoru…

"Kaoru…" he whispered, looking around, searching for her.

"Katsuo-nii!" he heard a small giggle behind him and tried to turn and see who called him, but no one was there.

"Hanako…" he called louder. "Kaoru! Where are you?" he tried to scream, but his throat hurt too much.

He could still see them, those two that resembled his parents… They were observing, with curious expressions, his struggles to search for his missing family.

"They are gone…" they said, at the same time and smiled, his white teeth dripping blood.

Katsuo felt the fury rise inside him, hotter than the flames he fought before. It consumed him, keeping him from thinking calmly, it was erasing all his previous thoughts of defeat… it was giving him strength!

He saw the two persons' skin start to fall from their bodies, their muscles bubbling like a hot bath, until they morphed to create a new being. He had brown hair and brown eyes, his face was smooth and beautiful, like someone you would expect in a magazine's cover. At first sight, Katsuo didn't know the man, but something was nagging him in the back of his mind, like he had seen the man previously, but couldn't remember where or when.

"Who are you?" Katsuo asked, seeing the mal walk toward him.

"After all these time, you don't know me?" the man replied in a fake wounded voice that made Katsuo's breathing quicken. He knew that tone, that voice, that smirking feel between his words.

"You're _him_…" he said, when the man was close enough to touch him.

"Sousuke Aizen…" the man said, observing him from head to toe. "You looked taller from inside…" he said, with a demoralizing sneer.

Katsuo backed down, trying to enlarge the distance between them; however, something rough and rocky stopped him and when he looked behind a huge rock wall was erected behind him, cutting his route escape.

"You might be stronger than some of my illusions, but I'm still the master inside your mind… You can't win here; I can change the reality to help me whenever you think you can beat me…" Aizen said and Katsuo felt the air between them changing when he called his powers and his zanpakutou materialized inside his hands.

"You really think your blade can cut me?" Aizen asked and when Katsuo tried to show him that _yes, his blade could defeat him_, found his hand bare and the zanpakutou that should have been there inside the older man's grasp. "You won't get rid of me that easily…" and he charged.

Katsuo tried to ran, but his legs were getting heavier and heavier by the second and he found himself unable of doing anything more than open his mouth in surprise when he was impaled with his own zanpakutou.

* * *

"Ichigo…" Orihime moaned, when their son's eyes opened and they saw the white part starting to redden with blood from his ocular vessels. "He is…"

She didn't have to say anything more for Ichigo to know. _He is dying_… that was what she was thinking and even if it shamed him he was thinking the same thing.

_I'm losing my son and I'm doing nothing to stop it!_

He looked into Orihime's eyes, wide with terror, her pale skin almost the same color as Katsuo's and the cold sweat running through her temples, like she was suffering from a fever.

Ichigo approached them even more, almost sitting both of them over his lap. Bringing mother and son's adjoined hands against his chest he looked into his son vacant eyes and spoke in a fatherly way.

"Kurosaki Katsuo, when your mother felt you kicking for the first time she appeared in my job screaming that you wanted your daddy, everyone looked at me, waiting for a scowl or a scream but I couldn't stop the laugh and the smile that erupted, I grabbed your mother and spun her in the air, while everyone saw what amazing laugh she had and how happy she made me… When she entered in labor I couldn't stop from chastise myself for putting her in such pain, but all she kept saying was that she loved me, that she loved us both, while the other women there cursed and yelled at their husbands, we are damn lucky for having such a goddess taking care of us… The first time you came home with a Father's Day gift I felt like my heart could implode from pride, I took it everywhere I went until Ishida hided it from me and I beat him up for that... in the end he gave me the gift back… it's still there in my study, just like all your presents, showing just how brilliant, amazing and brave my son is, just like when you asked Renji to date Kaoru, that, without a doubt, was one of the best days of my life… seeing him turn all kinds of colors made my entire day brighter, even if your mom was a bit mad at me afterwards… Please, son, remember Hanako, she is waiting for you to go to the Zoo in her birthday, she wants to eat all kind of ice creams with her big brother, she wants to hear your crazy stories about aliens and robots that you and your mother always conjure together to tell her as a bedtime story…" Ichigo said, until his voice cracked and his eyes filled with tears, the salty drops fell over his son and wife's hands, interlocked between his bigger ones.

"Please, you have to fight, your father wants to teach you so much, we have to tell you so many things, I want to protect you and laugh with you, we want to see you be happy with Kaoru and have a lot of kids running around, we want so many things… we want to see you win the basketball tournament, we want to see you convince your father to bring a puppy home, we want to hug you and feel you hugging back… Please, fight for you, fight for us, remember that we will always be there with you, my son… My miracle, my love made human…" Orihime whispered, squeezing the boy's hand.

A warm feeling spread through their arms, coming from their adjoining hands and Ichigo looked to Orihime, surprised. It was like their reiatsu was fusing to help their son finding his way back. They hoped and waited…

* * *

"Dad? Mom?" Katsuo called, hearing faint sounds that resounded like his parents' voices.

"No one can help you…" Aizen said, pulling the zanpakutou from his body to lick the blood dropping from the blade.

**_How brilliant, amazing and brave my son is… I felt like my heart could implode from pride_**

**_You have to fight… we want to see be happy … _**_**we want to hug you and feel you hugging back…**_

He could hear snippets of their sentences, their voices strengthening and weakening like a wind was blowing them around. However, he knew those voices, he would always know them, they were what gave him strength, what always helped him after a nightmare or a bad grade or an injury… They were his parents' voices.

"Dad! Mom!" he called in a stronger voice, feeling his heart hammering in his chest. He could feel Aizen's surprised expression at his sudden relieved face, observing him with a guarded expression.

"_Hanabi_!" Katsuo yelled and he felt the power return to his hand at his command. Aizen looked to see a red and gold zanpakutou take shape inside the boy's hand, a zanpakutou equal to the one he was grabbing inside his right hand.

"Dad, mom, please, give me your strength!" Katsuo screamed and he could almost see two pairs of hands grabbing the zanpakutou with him.

"Show that bastard what the Kurosaki are made of!" Ichigo said, with a smirk.

"Trust in yourself and win!" Orihime said, touching his hair with her fingers with a feathery feeling.

"I will!" he said and the two ghostly shadows disappeared when he started running, his zanpakutou flashing with red and gold flames, that instead of burning him, licked his fingers like a loyal pet.

"AIZEN!" Katsuo screamed and pointed his blade to the man's heart. He cut the attack line with his own blade, however, the metal shook and released mist from where Katsuo's sword touched it.

Katsuo jumped back, observing how Aizen's eyes widen at feeling the scorching hot blade under his fingers, however, the man didn't released it and Katsuo felt his father's touch beside his shoulder.

"Look at him, his soul is scared, go for the kill!

Katsuo didn't have to think twice, seizing his zanpakutou more securely, he ran forward, trading blow after blow with Aizen, while the other man's sword was getting hotter by the second, until flames imploded from it, engulfing the brown haired fighter with their ashes and flames and smoke… Katsuo heard a scream, like the man was being taken away, until his own conscience started to slip away and he felt the floor against his cheek.

"I showed him what the Kurosaki are made of…" he said, in a weak whisper.

"Now sleep, my son…" he heard, before losing the totality of his conscience.

* * *

**Hanabi means fireworks, I choose this zanpakutou's name because not only of Katsuo's kind of attack, but also because the primary colors of fireworks are yellow and red (At least in my country they are the most common colors) and Orihime's powers are normally golden-yellow and Ichigo's bankai zanpakutou had those red flames all around it, so why not fuse his parents' powers within his blade's name?**

**So, what do you thought about that fight? Did he honored his family's name?**


	23. Chapter 23 Waking Up

**Chapter 23 – Waking up**

_**Chapter's Music - Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie**_

* * *

He was laying on a cold, rocky floor. Everything in his body hurt, like a truck had used him as a road. And he wasn't alone. He could hear others' breathing patterns beside his own, he could feel hands touching his body and he could hear, far away, fading voices that appeared to be calling him. A sweet voice, that made him remember ice cream and rainbows and another rougher one that remembered him of strawberries and swords…

"_Katsuo, come back…_"

"_Please, wake up honey…_"

He tried to squeeze his fingers and when he was able of doing it he heard two gasps and someone grabbed his hand, while another one touched his cheek softly. He swallowed the excess of saliva, tasting a taste of iron that made him realize he probably bitten himself, drawing blood. His eyelids felt like they weight tons, however, when the voices turned more urgent and the touches more fierce, he made the last effort of lifting them.

Two persons were looking down at him, two pairs of brown eyes, two orange manes and two equally worried, but at the same time, relieved expressions.

"Mom… dad…" Katsuo croaked and Orihime sniffed, the tears falling over her son's face. "Don't cry…" he said, trying to reach his mother's face, but failing.

"You're still weak, please rest a little more…" Ichigo asked softly and Katsuo looked at him.

"Thank you!" he said, remembering the last image of his father beside him in the fight.

Ichigo looked at him, confused, but had no time to ask anything, because his son's eyes were once again closed; his breathing pattern calm and his face with a lingering smile.

The orange haired man grabbed his son under his neck and under his knees, rising with him against his chest. Orihime tried to argue, but her husband looked at her with a resolute expression that made her understand how serious he was about that arrangement. She smiled at him in understanding and grabbing his right arm, the three of them started walking towards the exit.

Gin was expecting them, some meters away, resting against a cave wall like he had no care in the world.

"Ready to go back?" he asked, noticing their approach and Orihime nodded, while Ichigo didn't even spared a glance in his direction.

"Thank you…" she said, stopping in front of the grey haired man and bowing as a signal of respect.

Gin looked at her surprised, like she was from another planet, while Ichigo shook his head with a bemused expression in his face. When Gin's surprise expression disappeared he chuckled.

"Aizen was definitely right, you are a sight to be held and an enemy to be feared…" he replied, while walking away.

Ichigo lost his amused expression at the mention of the former captain and a vindictive shine took over his eyes.

"_Later_…" Orihime said, touching his shoulder and he understood what she meant: in that moment all they should be worried about was the boy in his father's arms.

"Later…" he agreed, with a softer expression.

Orihime couldn't explain why, but all the darkness that made her fears resurface when she was walking the opposite direction just looked silly at the prospect of having her son back, it was probably the hope in her that was growing stronger and stronger at the sight of him, or the feeling of leaving that dark place… She couldn't be sure, but she welcomed that with open arms.

When they exited the cave, the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, the forest a lighter green and the birds' sounds were turning the place into a very enjoyable sight. Using his flash-step, Ichigo crossed the raging river, waiting only a millisecond for Orihime to join him. Gin was walking behind them, but neither of them paid him any mind, both mesmerized by their son's peaceful face and rosy cheeks.

The boy nudged his father's chest and sighed, and Orihime giggled at the sight.

"Just like when he was a baby…" she said, with a smile so bright it could compete with the sun.

"I miss that… Maybe we really should have another baby…" he said, in a teasing tone.

"Yes, and calling him Kisuke…" Orihime replied, with a fake thoughtful expression.

"You know what? Forget about that…" he said and she laughed, grabbing his arm and her son's hand.

* * *

The walk was tiresome, especially for someone whose last nights were spent awake and worrying. When the family reached Soul Society, the gate was closed, his giant protector sitting beside it, playing cards with a ruffled Ukitake; apparently the man had some sleepless nights as well, according to the dark shadows under his eyes.

"Ukitake-san!" Orihime called, when the man rose to a standing position and ran to meet them halfway. "What are you doing here? You should be resting!"

"Expecting your delightful companies, my sweet girl… And don't worry, my health is better than ever..." he said, kissing her hand. He looked to Ichigo's tired face and noticed the boy over his arms. "Let me…" he said, extending his own to help the younger one relieve his burden.

"No, I'm the one that will escort my son to a bed!" Ichigo replied and without waiting another second restart walking to a gate already open. The giant saluted him, but Ichigo's eyes were trained in front of him, unable of noticing anyone else beside the boy inside his protection.

* * *

The Abarai household's door was open, he could hear the faint voices of their habitants through the wooden walls.

"You have to rest!" Renji was yelling, stomping with his feet and Ichigo imagined him wandering around his daughter's room to stop her from running away.

"I need a bed to lay my son!" Ichigo yelled and when Orihime reached him she admonished her husband with her motherly stare.

An immediate rampage was heard throughout the place, four pairs of feet beating the floor just like enraged elephants. Ichigo could discern the thundering of Renji, the smallness of Rukia, the quick jumps of Kaoru and the howling of someone unexpected to him: his crazy father. He could feel other reiatsu approaching: Ishida and Chad's that were skyrocketing with anxiety.

"Katsuo!" Kaoru screamed, popping from the back of the house, with her parents and Isshin right beside her. She ran to Ichigo and Orihime, only stopping when she was a hair away from her boyfriend's body. She observed his pale face, his cheeks still tainted by his tears' tracks and his soft smile that finally made her sight.

"He is alright…" Orihime said, smiling down at the girl whose smile brightened her tired face.

Isshin kept his distance, while Renji directed Ichigo to one of the rooms where he laid Katsuo in a futon. When his son backed away they locked eyes, and Ichigo saw his father's brimming with tears.

"You're such a bastard!" the younger man said and with a swing of his arm, he punched his father right in the nose. Isshin looked dumbstruck, not his normal face after a punch from his son, but an apprehensive one.

"I didn't know what Aizen did with Orihime-chan… What Kisuke said was that maybe something was wrong with her and Katsuo and the answer resided with Gin… He told me he was going to revive him to know what happened… to know about what Grimmjow saw in Las Noches…" Isshin said, observing his feet instead of his son's face.

"Isshin-san…" a soft voice spoke from beside him and he felt a soft hand touch his shoulder. He looked up, seeing Orihime's face shine with tears. "I know that what you did was to protect us… I know you thought this was the best way to help Katsuo, keeping it a secret so you could act quicker… But please, don't ever hide anything like that from us again…" she begged, with a smile wavering.

"Tsh, stupid old man, trying to fix everything by himself…" Ichigo scoffed, with his arms locked, in a way that told Isshin he was already forgiven. "And now here he is, crying like a baby…" he finished, with a teasing smile gracing his lips.

"Speaking of baby, where is Hanako?" Orihime said, looking behind Isshin like he could be hiding the girl between his body and the wall.

"She was with Shunsui… it's incredible how good he is with children since he is such a lazy drunk bastard…" Isshin said, with a contemplative look. Orihime looked at him with reproachable eyes and he smiled apologetically.

"I'm sure she is perfectly content with him!" the woman said confidently, while watching her son's chest rise and descend calmly. Kaoru was beside him, touching his hair softly, while her parents observed sadly.

"She was… until she felt your reiatsu approaching us…" a male voice said from the hallway and when Orihime and Ichigo turned they saw their daughter running toward them, her arms open and her smile almost blinding them with happiness.

"He is back! Katsuo-nii is back!" she said, running through Ichigo's open arms and entering the room where her brother was sleeping. The father was left dumbstruck, his smile frozen and his arms empty. Orihime couldn't stop herself from giggling at her husband's sad puppy eyes. However, his disappointed expression was immediately replaced with an amazed one at seeing his children finally together and safe.

"This is really perfect…" Orihime whispered, locking her hand with his. He looked down at her and without taking his eyes from hers he nodded, feeling the warm from her fingers spreading through his arm.

Shunsui approached the group and with Isshin observed the family inside the room.

"We are really lucky…" the flamboyant man said, with a meditative look.

"Yes, we are… We have amazing kids…" Isshin said, making Shunsui look at him, surprised. "Do you really think that during all those years I wouldn't notice who Orihime was?" Isshin said. "Don't you think that I would link her powers with your wife's family?" Isshin arched his eyebrow in a comical way that made Shunsui crack a smile.

"Please, don't tell anyone, it wouldn't be good for her to know about her past life or her family's connections…" Shunsui replied and Isshin nodded.

"I agree with you, your wife and daughter are dead, that branch of the royal family no longer exists, even if it is your daughter's soul reincarnated she is not that person… she might have a god's power, but she is only human…" Isshin concluded the conversation and Shunsui turned to look at the display of different affections in front of him.

* * *

Katsuo was starting to get restless, just like he used to be before waking up. Kaoru was looking at him with veiled eyes, while everyone held their breathe, until he stopped moving and his eyelids opened. He looked up at her, his expression a mirror of her own: amazement, wonder, fear and doubt. He raised a trembling arm and touched her cheek with his fingertips. Kaoru molded her face against his hand and smiled, feeling the warm of his hand swipe through her body.

"Kaoru…" her mother called and looking around, she saw that Rukia was not looking at her, but at Orihime and Ichigo, both of them in a distant position, right beside the door. She understood the message immediately: she loved him without any doubt, but in that moment his parents needed that alone time with their son, they needed to mend their relationship and rebuilt the trust and faith in each other.

"I will come back later…" she said, kissing his forehead and feeling his hand squeeze her own. She still had to hear his voice, but right now, those touches and those traded looks were enough to mend her heart.

"_I love you_…" he said with his eyes and his smile and she answered with her own secret expressions, only reserved to him.

When the Abarai family left, closing the shoji door, Orihime and Ichigo observed how Hanako ran from where she sat, strangely quiet, until they were alone in the room.

"I'm sorry…" the little girl said, bowing her head in shame. Orihime and Ichigo gasped, but before they could say anything, their son took the lead.

"I'm one the one that has to say sorry, I hurt you and dad and mom, because I couldn't admit my own weakness, I made you cry… And I couldn't be more ashamed of my tactless actions, I should have told anyone, from the first time you warned me… but I couldn't, I was too scared of letting you down, of hurting you in any way… But in the end, by doing so, I hurt you even more…" he said, looking at his sister and parents, with guilty eyes. "Please, forgive me…"

Orihime sobbed and running to her children, embraced them in a bone-crushing hug, feeling their reiatsu fusion with her own in a secure blanket. Katsuo tried to be strong, but feeling his mother touch after all these time, made him forget all the pretenses and started crying in her shoulder, just like he used to, whenever he hurt himself playing in the park.

"Dad!" he called in a croaky voice and Ichigo didn't need another invitation to join the family hug. His long arms tried to encase the three people, like there was no tomorrow, like he could protect them as long as he kept them inside his bubble. However, like life showed him, keeping your loved ones close wasn't a reliable tactic for keeping them safe; Katsuo being a living proof of that…

"You have nothing to be sorry about… You were so brave, so strong… I'm so proud of you!" Ichigo whispered in his son's ear, while Orihime kept caressing his face with an amazed look and Hanako clinged to Katsuo's arm like a monkey.

"Who was that man?" Katsuo asked, when his family was a bit calmer and his mother stopped from touching ever surface of available skin.

"Someone that will no longer hurt you!" Orihime replied, surprising her son with the fury in her voice. It was the first time he heard such venom coming from his mother's mouth and noticing how her reiatsu flared he knew that this mysterious being was going to have a ticket to the highway of hell, presented by Kurosaki Orihime herself…

Katsuo looked at his father and saw that his eyes had darken, his scowl menacing and cold, like he was ready to slash someone, limb by limb… Seeing how their demeanor changed because of that question, Katsuo decided to disperse the tension.

"So… why is gramps' eye peeking from the door?" he asked and they could hear a shuffle behind the door. Ichigo cracked a smile when he heard his father's curse at falling, probably over his behind and when he opened the door, found him in the floor, with the most innocent expression he could manage while being found eavesdropping.

When Ichigo gesture for him to enter, the man jumped inside and with a watery smile, ran to his grandchild and took his face between his hands, looking inside his eyes.

"You're the kind of man I always dreamed as having for a grandson!" he told him, with the light of pride shining in his eyes.

Katsuo blushed and looked down, while his parents smiled serenely at his bashfulness. They had their son back and for now, not even Aizen could darken that happy thought…

* * *

**Such a happy chapter, right? After all that drama and gloomy scenes we have the family together again! But we still have to see Aizen meeting his destiny, so don't worry, we will see a bit more of Orihime's dark side... **

**Please, comment! I need your support!**


	24. Chapter 24 Confronting the memories

**Chapter 24 – Confronting the memories**

**_Chapter's music - Firework by Katy Perry_**

**_Don't fight it by The Panics_**

* * *

He observed how his parents touch him with all the care, how his mother's eyes would water at his slightest smile and how his father's eyes shined with pride at whatever he said. Hanako noticed those reactions too and with a comprehensive smile, winked at him. He smiled back, feeling his sister's reiatsu warm him.

When Kaoru entered the room, kneeling beside his head, he felt his heart beat quicker; his lips ache for hers and his hands wanting to touch her face. She kissed his cheek with a butterfly touch, barely touching him, however, he felt like it was one of the most intimate moments they had shared. He understood why, after all they shared and suffered, being able of feel that way at the sight of each other was the real proof of their love.

But even with Kaoru's touch, with his mother's happy tears, his father's pride and his sister's smile, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the previous days… about what he did to all of them…

He draw Kaoru's blood, he beat her… he beat his sweet mother… he made his father, the most brave man he ever met, cry… he made his sister scared for her safety… It made him remember the visions _he_ would sent into his mind, the ones with his parents dyeing in a sandy place, but now, they were real, and he was the guilty one.

It didn't take much time for Kaoru to realize something was not right with her boyfriend. At first she thought he was just tired when, touching her cheek, he stopped the movement and let the arm fall to his side. But, when Orihime tried to help him standing and he used the excuse of being too tired to do that, she knew something was definitely wrong, he would never admit some weakness, he would surpass the pain just to see his mother smile… And using Hanako's absence, while playing with Sado-san and Ishida-san outside, she seized the opportunity.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she snapped, not understanding what could possibly be messing with his mind when they were together again.

Orihime looked at her, with knowing eyes, like she already knew what was going on, but, nevertheless, wanted her son to speak up. Ichigo was playing with his zanpakutou, still in his shinigami form, knowing that his body was safe in the next room. He was faking his disinterest, knowing that his son would hate to have a lot of people eyeing him while he poured his heart out; he was just like his old man.

"Don't give me that look!" she said, noticing his surprised expression. He scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, turning his face away from her. But since in his other side was his mother he had to close his eyes and sigh.

"How the hell do you think I feel after hurting all of you? I punched my mom, I almost killed you, I wanted to impale my dad!" he spat, opening his eyes. "How do you think I feel knowing that because I wasn't trustful enough with my parents they almost lost everything? I made a clear path for Soul Society's destruction! If it wasn't for mom finding me and that weird guy putting this burning stuff on me you would be all dead!" his voice raised with each word and in seconds he was already yelling, in a standing position. "**_How do you think I felt seeing my parents die in my mind whenever I tried to fight him off? Do you think it was a walk between the daisies fighting you? Seeing your blood ran so quickly from your body? Seeing the life being taken away from your eyes? Those eyes that I want to look at until I'm old and wrinkled and dyeing! How can I look at all of you and see you smiling and relieved and so fucking proud, when I feel like a fucking weakling!"_**

He was breathless at the end, noticing his mother's understanding eyes and getting confused by them. Kaoru was looking at him with wide eyes and Ichigo was smiling inwardly, remembering his own fears.

"You are such a moron!" Kaoru said and for some moment he thought she was going to punch him when she closed, fiercely, the distance between them.

And then… _she hugged him…_

She grabbed the back of his shirt between her fists and brought his body against her own. He felt the softness of her hair beside his face and the smell of her invaded his nostrils.

"You are a moron and an idiot… but you will never be a weakling! You fought him off! You were able of raising your reiatsu when he was going to kill me! You were able of hear your mother and come back! You are the man I love… the man I want to look at until I'm all wrinkled… the man I want to protect until my last breath… Please, don't keep yourself away from us, the people that love you! Please…" she begged and started to sob.

Katsuo was so shocked at hearing her words and her sobs that for some moments he lost all his reactions, until a male voice, coming from behind him said "_That's the moment you should hug her back…"_ accompanied by a female giggle. He smiled at his parents' antics and returning the hug, he pressed her against his chest, feeling the sobs shook her frame. He patted her hair, while whispering soothing things and barely noticing his parents leaving.

When they remembered their surroundings they were sitting on the floor, with Kaoru over Katsuo's lap, both snuggled against each other.

"Were you being truthful?" Kaoru asked, her red rimmed eyes looking at his.

"About what?" he replied, confused at all he confessed in his rampage.

"About wanting to get old with me…" she said, her cheeks reddening immediately.

"Were you being truthful?" he inquired and she smiled.

"Yes, I was…" she nodded and his smile was so bright she felt a huge laugh blossoming in her chest.

"Your dad is going to hate me, you know?" Katsuo said and Kaoru shrugged nonchantaly.

"He already hates you… no big deal there…" she said bashfully.

"_No, I don't, but that could change!_" a voice yelled from the next room and Kaoru redden with rage.

"_Dad_! I can't believe you were eavesdropping! That's so rude!" she yelled and Katsuo chuckled. He could hear other voices joining Renji's roars of laughter, familiar ones like his parents', his sister's, his uncles', his gramps' and his aunt Rukia's. They were happy, in peace, and if what Kaoru said was true all of them wanted to support him in confronting his inner demons. He knew he had to talk with his parents. From his rampage they knew how he felt, nonetheless, they let him speak with Kaoru alone, knowing that he needed that time with her, knowing they had all the time in the world to talk and forgive and learn the small steps towards forgetting.

* * *

"Hey…" he said, after the dinner, where everyone ate and drank until they could no more and where a lot of Seireitei's habitants appeared without invitation in the Abarai household until Renji locked the door with a kiddo whispered by Rukia.

Ishida was helping Kaoru and her mother organizing the mess in the dining room, after refusing Orihime's or Ichigo's help; Sado was stopping Renji from singing this weird song about monkeys and snakes and Hanako was laughing at Isshin's attempt at cheating in a game of cards with Shunsui, Urahara, Ukitake and Unohana, while Toshiro observed the older ones with bored eyes, since he was still a little taken at being left behind during Katsuo's saving. No matter what Orihime said, he still felt that being unable of help was a flaw into his self-imposed responsibility as an almost uncle to that kid.

"Sit with us…" Orihime said, making room to her son. She was sitting at the back porch, sipping tea with Ichigo in a peaceful and rather abnormal way for them.

Katsuo didn't wait any longer to accept and kneeled beside them, his arms touching both of them.

"So, what is it you want to talk?" Ichigo said, already knowing what it was, but wanting to give his son his own time.

Katsuo sighed, thinking about all he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it.

"I started getting these weird feelings… I lost my conscious, but still walked around and talked, even not having any memory of that…" he said. "Hanako felt it too, she knew something was wrong, but he was stronger and was able of hiding his reiatsu from her… and I lied… I said everything was fine, when I knew it wasn't… I wanted to be able of fight this off on my own… I wanted to be strong like you, dad and smart like you, mom… But I was none of that and in the end, my stupidity won and I lost…"

"You're not stupid… you're my idiotic son, too much like your mother, always wanting to fend for himself, instead of asking for help…" Ichigo said, grabbing his shoulder and shaking it, slightly. "You want to show you're just as strong as me, but you are already stronger… You were able of pulling off of that mind prison, you won against Aizen's plans, you showed him that you're no longer a boy, you're a warrior!" Katsuo could hear the emotion in his father's voice and blushed at being able of making the stoic man so emotive.

"While I was fighting him in my head I saw you…" he confessed. "You were beside me, helping me, when I thought I was going to die… that everything was lost…"

Orihime looked at Ichigo, with a mesmerized expression. He knew what she was thinking; he remembered all too well that moment when their hands were connected and he felt like they were fusing their reiatsu in a powerful wave.

"We were there with you…" Orihime replied, simply, confusing Katsuo. However, she only smiled at his inquiring expression and he huffed, knowing he wasn't going to get anything more from her.

"Mom…" he said, suddenly, remembering something that was annoying him in the back of his mind. "Why were you smiling while I was yelling at Kaoru? I thought you always said I should be polite and never yell with a girl…" he said, not knowing if he was going to regret bringing that up.

"I was smiling, because your scene made me remember something an old friend of mine said one day to the boy she liked… He was being a really stupid boy, trying to keep the girl from him, so he could save her, but nonetheless she was having none of that and confronted him about his issues with her… It was really nostalgic seeing that scene…" Orihime said and smiled at Ichigo, who was grinning in return. Katsuo felt his lips turn upward, imagining his mother having a go at his father…

"Man, I wish I was there to see dad getting whipped by mom…" he said laughing and his father scowled.

"For your information, in that day, I saved your mother from a flood!" Ichigo said, slapping his son's head softly.

"I was so scared…" Orihime whispered, gaining the attention of both men. "Of being unable of watching a scene like this happening again…" and then she smiled her megawatt smile. "But seeing us like this, I realize how dumb I was being for thinking like that… you're just like your father, too stubborn to be defeated like that…"

"You know, you are always comparing me with each of you, but, while someone would think that as an annoying thing, I disagree… Being compared to someone as great as you really makes me proud!" Katsuo said and saw, with horror, his mother surround his neck with her arms, losing all her composure.

While he was patting his mother's hair and trying to gain his father's attention, that looked so focused in his tea, hiding his eyes from view, he knew things were still rocky, he knew he had a lot of sins to atone, but while he had his family and Kaoru by his side, he would have enough strength to fight one more day.

* * *

**I love this chapter! I love Katsuo talking with Orihime and Ichigo like that, especially in this time of the year when family is normally together in peace and love. **

**I hope everyone of you has an amazing Christmas, with health and love to be with with your family and friends.**


	25. Chapter 25 The Princess' Request

**Chapter 25 – The Princess' Request**

_**Chapter's Music – Crawl by Kings of Leon**_

* * *

Everyone was asleep when the woman got up. Her husband was beside her, snoring softly, his arms around their daughter in a protective stance. She had to be extra careful at not waking the little girl that was clinging to her arm while sleeping. However, they were so tired that all her efforts were probably useless, even if an explosion occurred they would sleep through it all.

She took a moment to stop and turn around to observe them. Ichigo had his mouth slightly open, an innocent expression over his calm features that only her had the privilege of seeing; Katsuo was using his arm as a pillow with only his forehead appearing from behind the sheets, his hair a wild mane, just like his father's and Hanako looked more like a ball, her legs drawn against her chest with her hands surrounding her knees and her nose scrunching while she dreamed.

Orihime had to stop herself from jumping into that group again and forget her mission, however, when she closed her eyes all she could see was _his_ cold smile and she had to make sure her goal would be reached.

The wooden boards creaked under her socked feet and she tried to tiptoe to the front door the quickest possible.

"Where are you going?" a male voice asked and she almost screeched, stopping herself in time. Feeling their reiatsu she bit the inside of her mouth and turning around, smiled brightly at them.

"I can't sleep, so I thought maybe the dawn air might help me…" she replied, quickly, her cheeks flaming. _Damn, why was she such a bad liar?_

"You're lying…" a deeper voice said from the shadows and Orihime scowled.

"Are you learning from my idiotic son how to do that face? It doesn't suit you!" the first voice said and she sighed.

"Orihime-san, all we want to do is help you…" a third voice said and she heard them getting up to join her under the rising sun's light.

"If you want to help me, please, stay here and if Ichigo wakes up tell him I went to visit Toshiro-kun…" she asked, biting her lip.

"Are you going to meet with Captain Commander?" Isshin asked and both Sado and Ishida looked at him surprised.

"How do you…?" Orihime started, but seeing his understanding expression she knew that he knew what was her wish.

"Orihime…" Sado called, stepping forward. "_Don't…_" he tried to say, since apparently both he and Ishida realized what her intentions were.

"Don't dirty your hands with scum like him… Kurosaki wouldn't want you to…" Ishida tried to demote her, but she was hearing none of that.

"I have to do this for my own peace of mind… I won't be able of living always looking over my shoulder… waiting for the next catastrophe to happen to my family… But don't worry, I will only talk with Yamamoto-san, I won't do anything yet…" she said, and without waiting any more time, she turned around and exited the house.

The men looked at each other with sorrowful eyes. She was the last person they wanted to see doing something like that, they knew how hurting someone in a irreparable way did to them and they wanted to protect her from that feeling… However, hearing her reasons, they had to agree, living like that was no life, it was only an ending prison, where their enemy won every day they spent afraid of his next tactic.

* * *

Yamamoto was waiting for her in his private library, where, through his open window she could feel the cold morning air.

"Kurosaki Orihime…" he said, observing her bowing respectfully.

"Captain Commander…" she replied, looking into his eyes.

"You asked for a meeting two days ago, after informing myself about your son's condition… I wonder what would make you part from your family at such an early hour…" he said, his white beard trembling with his words.

"I thought for a long time, while watching my son sleeping, about what my next move could be and I reached a conclusion: I can't let him or neither one of my family to be injured because of that man… He brought too much pain and too much sorrow into our lives… He killed and smiled while doing it… With all respect, I didn't know if imprisoning him was ever the best choice and now, after all he has done to my child, I'm surer than ever that he needs a different ending…" Orihime said with her chest waving and her hands sweating.

"You know that his sentence was given by the Central 46, right? The highest power in Seireitei, that we all have to bide to…" Yamamoto started and Orihime opened her mouth to retort, however, the old man cut her words. "I know what you're going to say… That according with the recent events they should rethink their decision and let us take the matter into our hands, am I correct?" he asked and Orihime nodded. "Rest your mind, young one, for I already spoke with our superiors, right after your return and they gave me the liberty to choose his punishment as I thought best…" Yamamoto informed and Orihime nodded again, her face ashen.

She fidgeted in her place, her eyes observing, while the old man closed the window to protect them against the rain that started falling.

"I know what you want to do… But I have to advise you, your decision won't be so easy when you have to do it yourself, as I know you want…" Yamamoto said and Orihime's eyes narrowed. "You might think you're capable of such action, but killing a man is much worse than you could ever imagine… I know the feeling, I killed more than I can count, I can hear them, every day, every night, asking why, _why them, why not their neighbors_… I can use them to give me power, I can use them to kill more people, but they can never rest, they can never be satisfied with their own ending…" while talking, the old man touched his zanpakutou with a caring touch and she saw a brilliant drop fell from his right eye, until it lost itself in his white beard.

"Please, I can't live like that… and I can't ask Ichigo to do it for me, or anyone else for that matter… It was my fault, I'm the one that was a pawn of him, I'm the one that almost gave him the way to return… I have to penitence for my own sins…" Orihime begged, her voice cracking in the last word.

"Sins of naivety and recklessness and self-sacrifice… I don't consider them as sins, they were mistakes of a girl that lost too much and wanted to protect too much…" Yamamoto said, and Orihime felt her throat constrict. It was the first time the old man said something like that; previously she thought he saw her as a silly woman, something like a nuisance, like the old accusation of treason still lingered between them, however, now, she could see that she was really being silly for believing the old warrior held a grudge over her decisions.

"Thank you, for everything…" she chocked. "But I have to do this…" and with the last words she ran from the room, only stopping when she felt the rain falling over her head and hid her tears.

* * *

The dark clouds loomed over her, while the rain fell merciless over her pale frame.

"Orihime!" Rukia screeched when the other woman entered the house, running to get a towel to dry her friend.

Ichigo, aware of his wife's presence exited the living room, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw her face.

"Orihime…" he whispered, engulfing her in his wide arms. "What happened with you? My dad said you went to see Toshiro… Why did you come back while it was raining? You could get a fever!" he admonished, creating friction between his hands and her skin to warm her.

"I'm sorry…" she croaked, burying her face in his chest. Her hands searched his neck nervously and she pushed herself against his body.

He grabbed her face and brought it against his own, touching her lips one, two, three time, until they engaged in passionate kiss, her hands grabbing his hair desperatly and his throat producing a moan.

"_Way to go, my boy!_" a male voice cheered behind them, while the others muttered their opposition at seeing such things.

"We have a child here, alright?" Katsuo faked a reproachable tone, while Hanako giggled behind his legs.

Orihime jumped back, her cheeks flaming and she saw how her friends and family were laughing at her. She bit her lip, realizing that this good humor wouldn't last for long… As soon as she would tell them her decision, they would think she was insane, and no longer would those smiles she loved so much be in their faces…

The woman stepped back even more from her husband, wanting to create a barrier that could help her thinking rationally, without his soothing smell lulling her into a calm wave.

"Katsuo, Kaoru-chan, please, can you take Hana to the garden? The rain has stopped and I know how she loves watching the drops falling from the leaves…" Orihime said, watching as her son opened his mouth to reply. However, Kaoru stopped him with her hand and calling Hana, pulled him behind her.

Orihime smiled gratefully at the girl, relieved that her son wouldn't have to hear it with everyone around. She wanted to talk with him alone, where she could let his emotions run its normal course.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked, when the three youngsters were out of earshot.

"I went to talk with the Captain Commander…" she confessed, seeing Ichigo's eyes narrow when he looked at his father's guilty expression.

"You lied… Because she asked you to…" Ichigo said to Isshin, to which the man nodded, his eyes filled with sincere regret. "But why did you want my dad lying to me? What did you talk with the old man about?"

Orihime swallowed loudly, feeling her cheeks pale under the people's attention, especially Isshin-san, Yasutora-kun and Uryuu-kun who already knew what she was going to say next, but were still hopeful that regret would make her change her mind.

"I went to talk with him about Aizen's sentence…" Orihime said, her voice stronger than she thought capable of doing.

Ichigo's eyes widen and he opened his mouth to say something, but thinking better about it, left her keep talking.

"I asked him…"

"_To kill Aizen…_" Ichigo completed, and he heard Rukia's gasp and Renji's gritting teeth.

"How did you know?" Orihime replied and Ichigo scowled.

"That would be the only thing you would try to hide from me, since you know I would stop this stupid thing from happening!" Ichigo replied, his tone raising with each word.

"I have to do this! I have to end this once and for all… And the only thing is ending his existence…" Orihime said, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"See? You can't even say kill! How can you think about dirty your hands with that trash? Let me do this! Or another shinigami! Please, don't do this!" Ichigo begged and he could feel the others' reluctance at hearing their discussion.

"I love you more than my own life, you're the father of my children, the man I will always love and protect until my last breathe, but I can't comply in this… I'm sorry, but this… this is something I have to do… just like when you chased that hollow, all those years ago, when he killed me…" Orihime said and Ichigo's eyes darkened.

"I did that because I couldn't think about you and the baby in constant peril…" Ichigo said and Orihime nodded, sadly.

"What do you think is my reason? I need to do this, for my own peace of mind! I could let another person do that, but I'm the one that asked for his death… I'm the one that has to do it… _The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword_; I think you all can agree with that principle, isn't that correct?" she asked, looking to all the warriors surrounding her. She could see Rukia-chan's eyes shining with comprehension, Renji-kun's with some kind of pride, Uryuu-kun's with a mix of sorrow and pain, Yasutora-kun's hidden ones told her nonetheless that her peaceful friend was afraid for her and Isshin-san's eyes, however, were fixed in his son, measuring his next actions.

Ichigo roared, punching the wall beside him and not even Rukia's screech and Renji's snide comments made him calmer. His wife was going to turn into a… _a what? A murderer? A cold killer?_ He couldn't wrap his mind around that image of his sweet wife taking someone's life… But did Aizen deserve to live? Of course not… and could his life be considered a human's one? No, he was a monster, a killer and a sadist… Killing him wasn't the same as killing another human… and if she used her powers to reject his existence… Well, it might not be the same thing as killing him…

The orange-haired man sighed and closed his eyes forcefully, until the image of Orihime grabbing a bloody sword disappeared from his mind. When he opened them again, his wife was looking at him expectedly through her eyelashes.

"I want to be with you in there…" he said, grabbing her hands. He knew that right know she was okay with it, but knowing her as he did, he was sure, that after her actions she would crumble and he would be there to help her stand up again.

* * *

**I hope you liked it, because I almost froze my hands typing, God, is so cold in my city!**

**And finally Orihime made the request. Will she be able of doing it or will someone step into her place? Well, find out next week...**

**Oh, and anyone got the reference from one of the best show/book series nowadays during Orihime's speech? I will dedicate the next chapter to that person if you can find it..**


	26. Chapter 26 The Queen's Mission

**Chapter 26 – The Queen's Mission**

_**Chapter's music – I know by Jude**_

* * *

The morning woke with a heavy mist, the houses were mere shadows, in a fathomless distance and people walked with quick strides, like the weather was putting a damper over their sense of security.

The woman backed away from the window, tired of the motionless view. Behind her, her husband sat cross legged in the middle of the room, waiting for any movement from her part. Seeing her turning around he got up and extended his hand toward her.

"We should probably go..." he said,noticing how her eyes fixed in his fingers.

"_Do you think I'm a bad person?_" her question caught him in surprise and he stattered.

"Of course not, you're the best person I know, the one that never leaves a wounded animal without shelter or a homeless person without food! You're the epitome of goodness and never doubt that!" Ichigo replied, noticing her feverish look. He grabbed her face and forcefully made her look at him.

"I wanted to hurt him so badly!" Orihime said, fighting the needles in her eyes.

"But in the end you didn't... lose to him. You did what you had to do without cruelty, and it was much more than what he deserved!" Ichigo said, putting a loose strand of auburn hair behind her ear.

It was hard to reconcile this fragile and sweet woman with the powerful being that entered that tribunal's room, yesterday. It was like power irradiated from her, almost like they could hear the flickers of electricity coming from her body.

* * *

_The captains observed her with mesmerized eyes, surprised at her strong front, so different from the caring mother they learned to love as one of their families' member._

_The Captain Commander was sitting in a high chair, surrounded by the other captains and then by the lieutenants. _

_Orihime stepped in front of the old man, feeling the presence of her husband, her father-in-law and her two human friends behind her._

_"Kurosaki Orihime, you came here to ask for a different sentence to Sousuke Aizen from the previous one, am I correct?" the old man asked, his deep voice resounding inside Orihime's chest wall._

_"Yes!" she said, without looking into anyone's eyes._

_"This morning we heard the Arrancar Grimmjow Jeagerjaques and the former captain Ichimaru Gin and through their testimony we could create a clear image of what the prisoner did to this woman and her family…" the Captain said, eyeing his subordinates that nodded together. "Do you agree with her request?" he asked, and this time some of them froze, their expressions grim, especially Shunsui's, Rukia's and Renji's, that traded subtle looks. They knew that even if they showed their disagreement, the other captains and lieutenants would surpass them and Orihime's wish would be conceded._

_ "Since no one showed their disagreement… I agree with your request and give you permission to enter the prisoner's cell and do what you have to do…" Yamamoto said, his voice deeper than before and Unohana, Shunsui and Ukitake, the ones that knew him better, noticed a tingle of regret and sorrow in his tone. _

_Ichigo saw his wife start walking away from him in a daze and if it wasn't for Ishida's kick he would have lost her from sight. Running behind her, he grabbed her hand and together their followed one of Aizen's guard, leaving behind their family and friends._

* * *

Ichigo shivered, remembering the feeling the cell brought into his bones. It was like the shadows could swallow him if he was distracted for a second. The place was dark, damp and cold, no ray of sunshine ever illuminated it and only when someone entered would the torches be alight; the rest of the time, the former captain would be drawn in darkness.

* * *

_"Oh, my sweet pet, are you coming back to free me?" he asked, when Orihime came into hearing range. They could notice his smile even in the shadows, the shackles all around his body, imprisoning him against a high chair._

_"Yes, I came here for that…" Orihime replied in a whisper, like she was talking with herself. _

_Ichigo could notice her shivering and apparently so could Aizen, since his smile widen with every shiver._

_"I never thought you could have the fiber to do something like this… A little dove, if I recall correctly, that would rather die than watch her friends suffer, that would protect even an enemy if he was weak…" Aizen said, trying to mess with Orihime's mind. "Aren't you now so similar to me?"_

_"You bastard!" Ichigo roared, fed up with all his cruel words; his wife didn't deserve to hear such things and he was going to put an end to Aizen's show._

_"You're there too, little Kurosaki? I miss our fight from the past… it would bring some improvements from my boring quotidian… At least for a while your son was entertaining… Poor, stupid and useless child…" he pitied and both parents' saw red as it was his intention._

_Orihime walked towards the prisoner and pushing her arm back she punched him in the face once, twice, three times, until Ichigo grabbed her hand and pulled her back, noticing her bloodied knuckles from beating against Aizen's face and the shackles surrounding it. Orihime freed herself, leaving an astonished Ichigo behind her and stepped in front, in a fighting stance. Aizen, however, only laughed out loud._

_"Bravo, my dear… Now let's see if you can do what you came to do…" he taunted, with a smirk illuminated by the torches. He was sure she could never do that, she was too fearful, too simple minded, too naïve to ever hurt someone._

_What Aizen didn't know was to what extend a mother would go to protect her children… until now…_

_"Sõten Kisshun… I reject!" she whispered in a detached voice, right beside his ear. "This is for my son… and for me…" and Ayame and Shun'õ appeared, illuminating the dark place and Orihime's tearstained face. She stepped back, without taking her eyes from Aizen and saw her fairies' gloomy faces looking at her, while they created the dome over his body. Ichigo could see that the small beings were hurting too, just like their mistress. Even if Aizen was the biggest son of a bitch he ever met, he knew Orihime would be sad at taking a life, even it was his… even if she tried to close her heart and be strong…_

_He started disappearing, while his laugh continued echoing around them, no longer a lucid one; it was like his fear and madness took care of his cognitive system, making the laugh reflexive, like it was the only thing he could do when finally facing the determination of oblivion. And apparently, he wanted to haunt them while he could and even when the last molecule of his being disappeared he could swear he was still laughing around them, like his voice penetrated into their heads._

* * *

"I love you so much!" he whispered, kissing her temple in an attempt at bringing her back from her dark thoughts.

Orihime shook her head and smiled a little, trying to forget the previous day.

"I'm being silly, right?" she asked, biting her lip. "He was a bad person… and he hurt our son and he probably would have killed you if he got the chance…" she whispered to herself and then, looking up she asked in a small voice. "Then why am I feeling like this?"

"Because you're a freaking good person, too good for me and for fucking everyone else around you!" Ichigo said in a harsh voice. "Do you think anyone else would feel bad for erasing that monster? Of course not! You're so special you are so incredibly brilliant and it takes my breathe away that you chose me instead of another guy, that you let me spend all those years by your side, that you gave me those two amazing kids, that you let me hug you" and he hugged her. "And kiss you" and he did that. "And…"

"And maybe we should stop…" Orihime said, her voice heavy and her eyelids half closed while her husband's hands roamed around her body.

"Humm…" he hummed, his mind to far away to hear her words.

"Dad, mom, are you ready to… Ugh! _MY EYES!_" they heard a boy's voice far away in their dazed mind and when they turned to look, they saw their son's back while he walked away with his hands over his eyes.

Ichigo chuckled, even if a pink hue appeared in his cheeks and Orihime buried her face in her husband's chest.

"Thank you…" came her muffled voice from between his shirt.

"For what?"

"For being you and always having my back, and for always catching me when I fall, for all those times you ate my food and smiled, for all those times you talked with my brother's photograph and for saving me over and over again from having a simple, sad life…" she said, looking up. "And for believing in me, even when I don't…" she said, smiling the first true smile since their son was taken by Aizen.

"I missed that…" Ichigo said, touching her lips with his long fingers.

"Seriously, guys, can't you stop it? Everyone is waiting for you!" Katsuo was back, with his hands still in front of his eyes, scared of what those people he called parents were doing.

Orihime giggled and grabbing her husband's hand closed the distance between them and their son. She prayed the boy's hands away from his face gently and squeezing one of them inside her free one, she brought him against her body, surrounding his shoulders with her arm.

"Let's go home…" she whispered and they walked together towards the exit where the rest of their family would be waiting for them.

Orihime knew that the memories of what she did would always haunt her. It was in her nature to feel everything in a profound way, be it a happy thing or a regretful one, she would always feel that day as a sad one, not because she pitied Aizen's sentence, but because she pitied the part of her that she lost doing that. Yamamoto was right, she would never forget the feeling of ending one's life, even if that one was a killer and a monster. In that day she lost another part of her naivety, her innocence, that she started losing all those years ago, when her brother left her forever.

* * *

**I hope the way I showed Orihime's feelings really explained for those among you that couldn't see her doing that why she had to it, not only for herself, but for her family as well.**


	27. Chapter 27 Gin's farewell

**Chapter 27 – Gin's farewell**

_**Chapter's music – Fix You by Coldplay**_

* * *

Orihime felt her eyes sting when she stepped out of the Abarai household, not because of herself, but because of the scene that was developing in front of her.

The blonde woman and the silver-haired man were looking at each other, some feet apart like they were afraid of touching the other for the last time. The woman was holding her head high, her back tense and her right hand playing with her necklace. The man was wearing a normal human attire, the opposite of what they were accustomed seeing him in and his expression was also different from what they used to see him wearing: it was sorrowful and sad, like he was trying to drink every sight of her.

"I feel sorry for them…" Orihime whispered to her husband, while he observed the pair with veiled eyes.

"Well, the Commander couldn't let him walk away in Soul Society like he was an innocent school girl…" Ichigo scoffed and Orihime giggled at his comparison.

"Yes, but it's sad all the same seeing them get separated like this…" Orihime's romantic side was coming forward and Ichigo could almost see hearts jumping from her eyes. He patted her hair and brought her head against his chest.

"I know… not everyone can have our luck…" he whispered next to her ear.

Orihime sighed and observed with a faraway look while Rukia opened the senkaimon. Even then, the two were still meters apart. And without looking back, he turned around and entered the portal, leaving her behind, with nothing else than her memory of him… just like he did all those years ago…

Ichigo grabbed Hanako and sitting her over his shoulders he waved to his friends, while the small girl giggled, waving happily. Orihime hugged Rukia and Renji quickly, reserving a special time to squeeze Kaoru against her chest; then she kissed softly Shunsui and even when Toshiro tried to run she was able of kissing him too. Rangiku approached her, while Katsuo was talking with the Abarai family, saying their goodbyes.

"Please, take care of him…" the blonde woman said, looking into her eyes with a fiery shine in her own. Orihime looked at her, surprised at the strength in her voice.

"Rangiku-chan…" Orihime said, understanding the meaning behind the woman's words, even if herself didn't realize her decision in that moment. "We will wait for you…" she said, turning around and leaving the woman behind with a confused stare.

* * *

"I was surprised the old geezer would let him walk away like that…" Tatsuki said, eyeing Gin distastefully.

"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime reproached. "He isn't that bad… he helped us saving Katsuo! And besides, Rangiku-chan asked me to take care of him…"

"What is he, a dog? He can take care of himself!" Ichigo said forcefully and Orihime smiled at his jealous side.

They were all sitting in the Urahara Shop, observing Hanako and Shiro practicing their reiatsu's control. And Ichigo was proudly seeing his daughter beat the Quincy boy like it was nothing while Ishida was grimacing at his companion. They had just finished explaining everything to Tatsuki that was rather curious about their newcomer. It was still odd, for her, imagining the old man letting their former enemy walk away with a sentence like being prohibited from entering Soul Society… when the man died wouldn't his soul go back? She would never understand the head of those shinigamis and if her husband's face was something to be guided for he didn't understand that either…

"Please, leave your testosterone's fights at home, alright?" Tatsuki replied and Ichigo scowled deeply.

"Actually, it was Kurosaki that helped him getting that sentence…" Ishida said, from beside Tatsuki. His wife looked at him surprised; they didn't tell her that.

"Yamamoto asked us if we believed he was a key point in protecting Soul Society and I said yes…" Ichigo answered, without looking at anyone.

"Actually, it was you who wanted to say that, don't you remember?" Orihime replied and Ichigo turned to her with reproachable eyes. She smiled softly and touching his cheek, she said in reverent and proud tone: "That was one of the most beautiful things I ever saw, it's hard to swallow the pride and it's even harder to help someone we thought as an enemy…"

Ichigo blushed and scowled, turning from his friends to hide his flaming cheeks. Ishida sniggered under his breath until a black cat jumped over his head and scared him.

"Besides, I believe soon enough he will have someone to take care of him…" Orihime said mysteriously, when her husband's cheeks returned to normal and Yoruichi sat, innocently, in front of a pissed-off Ishida.

"Do you think so, Orihime?" Sado asked and she saw that he understood the meaning of her words, the only one that shared with her that romantic imagination for all the happy endings.

"Yes, I am…" she answered cryptically and Ichigo's scowl got more pronounced.

"Now you're doing it on purpose…" he moaned and Katsuo patted his father's arm in a condescending way.

* * *

And Orihime's prediction became real seven months after their return from Soul Society.

* * *

The morning was crispy and the snow's blanket was coloring the ground with the purest white… The man was sitting with his ice blade over his knees, observing all this with wise eyes.

"You should go or you will be late…" he said, noticing her presence behind him. She tried to say something, anything, that could show how much she loved all those years they spent together… How seeing him evolve was such a delight, how all his achievements felt like her own, how he was not only her Captain, but also her most trustful friend, her only family, her precious brother, son and father, all in one… She felt the tears prickle her eyes and her mind was flooded with the first memory of him, a scrawny boy being tricked by an old vendor… She wanted to hug him so badly… She wanted to say everything was going to be alright, that everything would be like it was before, that he would be happy without her laziness, but who was she trying to deceive? She knew everything was going to change, he would no longer have someone to shake him with rash words, she would no longer have someone to follow like she did with him, fighting for a greater good…

"Goodbye, Captain…" she said, turning around. It was like parting from a son she loved very much. Even if he was more responsible and mature than her, she couldn't help herself from feeling those motherly instincts towards the boy.

"Toshiro… you can call me Toshiro…" he said, without turning around to look at her. She smiled softly, and nodded.

"See you soon… Toshiro…" _I hope you will be happy…_

"Goodbye, Matsumoto…" _I hope he makes you happy, or I will kill him…_

* * *

Gin was sitting leisurely in Urahara's back porch, drinking a mug of hot chocolate. The snow kept falling merciless; the mist so tick it was hard to see a few feet in front of his nose. So, when he started seeing someone walking towards him that looked like _her_, he thought it was his imagination._ She couldn't be here… she shouldn't be here! But it was her!_ The blonde hair, now long like he remembered, the ivory skin, the voluptuous chest, the smiling eyes, the pink mouth… it was all her…

"Rangiku…" he said, getting up from the wooden floor.

"Good morning, Gin…" she said, entering the house like it was hers. "Good morning! Do you have an extra room for a visitor?" she asked loudly, making Urahara's head pop from his room.

"Well, well, you can always have mine!" he said happily, using his fan to hide his smirk at Gin's expression.

"Why are you here?" Gin asked, in a bored tone, walking behind her slowly.

"I quit…" she said simply, shrugging her shoulders and striping from her jacket. "Here…" she said giving it to Tessai that was leaving the kitchen in that moment. The giant looked at her surprised for an instant, but then shaking his head grabbed the piece of cloth and hanged it next to the door.

"Why are you here?" Gin asked again, this time stopping her from keep walking. Behind him Urahara, Tessai and a black cat were watching the scene like it was the most interesting event in the world.

"Why the hell do you think I'm here? Let me give you a clue, it's not because of my undying love for Ichigo!" she snapped and Urahara giggled, producing a bag of popcorn from thin air apparently.

"You came for me?"

"No, I came for _Ishida_! Of course it was for you! I neglected all my life in Soul Society to come and live with you as a human!" Rangiku said, her cheeks pinkish. "So, Urahara…" she said, looking at said man. "I hope you have one of those aging gigais, because I will need one…"

"Of course I have, Orihime-chan asked me to make one several months ago…" he replied quickly.

Rangiku looked at him surprised and then smiled understandably. "Of course…" she said, remembering her friend's parting words. She knew even then what her decision would be…

"Won't you miss Hitsugaya, Seireitei, the power of a shinigami?" the grey-haired man asked.

"Of course I will, but I asked Momo to keep an eye over him and Captain Ukitake said he would help him find a suitable replacement for me, even knowing it will be incredible hard to find someone so awesome as I…" Rangiku said, with a smile. "Besides, I wouldn't be happy knowing I let you go, again… This time I had something to hold on to…" she said.

"What?" Gin asked, knowing he didn't let anything behind just like last time.

"This…" she said, grabbing his face and kissing him softly.

* * *

When they informed the Kurosaki, Orihime cheered with happiness, while Ichigo smiled softly at his wife giddiness, feeling that finally things were going to be okay. And their happily ever after was waiting patiently right beside the corner.

* * *

**No, it's not the end, we still have an epilogue to go! **


	28. Chapter 28 Epilogue

**Chapter 28 – Epilogue**

_**Chapter's music - Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift feat The Civil Wars**_

* * *

"Can't you stop that? I can't hear that music again!" the man was saying, while observing his younger sister rocking his daughter inside her arms.

"But, Katsuo-nii, it is my lullaby! If it was mom, you wouldn't say for her to stop…" Hanako replied, her teenager's eyes flashing with victory.

"Of course not, but you're not mom and I don't want my daughter learning that song and then asking for all your weird food!" Katsuo replied, praying the baby away from his sister's arms.

"Please, don't fight!" came a tired voice from behind them and turning around they saw the weary new-mother walking down the stairs.

"Kaoru, you should be resting!" Katsuo said, closing the distance between them and kissing her temple.

Kaoru smiled and yawned. "I woke up and you weren't there… neither of you, and I wanted to see where my girl was…"

"Don't worry, Kaoru, mom is coming and she will take care of your husband!" Hanako said, with a smirk and Katsuo rolled his eyes.

"If I didn't know how much you love each other…" Kaoru said, observing the teasing looks between the two siblings.

They turned to her simultaneously and flashed equal smiles, so much like their mother's that she felt overwhelmed for a moment. The baby squeaked and Hana ran to help her brother soothing the youngster.

The doorbell rang and Hanako, leaving the parents cooing over their child, ran to open it. At the threshold her mother was waiting, her arms full of food and other necessities, her father behind with some other bags and behind them a jumping couple.

"I want to see her, I want to see her!" Rukia said, running through the small gap between Orihime and Ichigo and almost making them fall. Ichigo scowled at her, while supporting his wife and would have said something if Renji didn't push him aside to follow the black-haired woman, cutting his bad mouthing.

When they entered the room, the two newcomers were crying over the newborn, noticing how similar she was to their own daughter; for Ichigo the girl had totally her father's baby face, but when he tried to say that Renji elbowed him _accidentally_ in the stomach…

The proud grandparents were fawning over the baby, while Katsuo, Kaoru and Hana observed from some distance.

"Do you ever regret leaving Soul Society?" Hana asked softly, when Renji's hair turned the most interesting thing for the baby.

Kaoru looked at her, noticing the girl's worried expression. She smiled, knowing how much the girl cared for her wellbeing.

"I miss them, they are my parents after all, but being a shinigami, never getting old after I reached my maximum potential, training with a sword… being away from Katsuo, it was never my plan… I won't say it wasn't one of the most difficult decisions I made, but I can't regret it when I look around…" Kaoru said, while the laugh of Orihime filled the room when the baby patted her cheek softly.

* * *

_It was three years ago, two days after her twenty first birthday._

_She spent an entire evening discussing with Katsuo what their future would ensue, when, from nowhere he got over one knee and popped out a box from his pocket. She didn't know what to say beside scream like a little girl, reaction that made Katsuo laugh for weeks after that. _

_However, when the excitement decreased they looked at each other and knew that a crucial decision had to be finally made. One of them had to abandon their world…_

_"I want to go to the world of the living…" Kaoru said, surprising Katsuo with her decision._

_"What about your parents? Your friends? Won't you miss them?" Katsuo replied, not wanting to make her take a decision she would later regret._

_"They can visit us… my friends too… but I want to grow old with you, I want to see our kids get older and have their own babies, I want to have that future… I want to fight against time and win with every memorable day, I want to create a story with you with each of my wrinkles…" she said, cocking her head to the side and smiling._

_Katsuo sat there, mesmerized, feeling like his heart would burst through his chest, thinking that he never loved her more than he did in that moment._

* * *

_Her parents looked at her like she was speaking in a foreign language and Kaoru would swear she saw her father's eyes tearing before he could suppress it._

_"You want to leave?" Renji asked, his eyes wide, while the words felt like they weighted tons over his tongue._

_"Katsuo asked me to marry him and I want to live in the world of the living. I want to grow old! And you can visit us whenever you want! Please!" she said, feeling her eyes stinging. "Don't be mad or sad! I love him so much! And I love you with all my heart!" _

_Rukia looked from her husband to their daughter and getting up, without a word, closed the distance between them and squeezed Kaoru against her body._

_"I know how it feels to love someone more than your own life… At first, when I said to onii-sama I wanted to marry Renji he was so mad… because he didn't believe he could make me happy, but I knew he could, I knew he was the only one for me and I know that Katsuo is the one for you… You suffered so much… and now you deserve this happiness!" Rukia whispered, her tears running softly through her pale cheeks. _

_When mother and daughter parted, Renji stepped forward and engulfing his daughter in another hug, left the tears run freely, with no worries over his cool exterior. Kaoru fisted her father's robes between her hands and hugged him back with all her might._

_"My baby is so grown up…" she heard him saying, while bawling his eyes out. And then, from nowhere, he tensed and looked around. "Where is he? Why did he let you come here, alone? He should be with you, asking for my permission! I knew that strawberry didn't raise his kid properly!"_

_"Renji, you ran from onii-sama for a week when I told him about our engagement!" Rukia replied, making her husband cough and say he had no recall of such thing._

_"Katsuo went to tell Ichigo and Orihime. We thought it would be better if we spoke alone with our parents…" Kaoru said, not wanting to admit her own fear of Renji's reaction if Katsuo was in the same room. _

* * *

"I know how that feels…" Hana sighed and her brother's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"_You know_…? What do you mean with _I know_? Are you dating someone? Is it some guy from your school?" Katsuo asked, feeling an instant distaste towards the unknown boy.

"**_What?_**" another male voice roared from behind them. They didn't notice their father that, curious about his son's expression, decided that that moment was perfect to eavesdrop his kids' conversation. "_Who is that bastard?_" Ichigo asked, scowl in place, more pronounced than ever.

Orihime looked at her daughter, at hearing her husband's raised voice, with an innocent expression over her face that didn't deceive anyone, especially her husband who turned to her, waiting for an explanation.

"You knew about it? Orihime, why didn't you tell me? I'm your husband, you should have told me! I want to meet this bastard who thinks is good enough for my daughter!" Ichigo roared to an unfazed Orihime, that only blinked at him passively.

"First, you're my husband, but she is my daughter and second, I don't want you to treat him badly!" Orihime said seriously and Ichigo's face fell.

"Orihime!" he whined. "She is too young!"

"Dad!" Hanako snapped, her cheeks red. "I have a boyfriend and you already know him and you like him, so cut it out!"

Renji started laughing and when Ichigo turned his angry glare in his direction, the red-haired raised his hands in a sight of surrender. "I was just thinking if it was Shiro… you know, Ishida's boy… that would be funny…" and he laughed openly.

Orihime's eyes widen, looking to Renji, that realizing what he said released a "_Oops!_". An uncomfortable silence fell over the room; they could hear a needle drop or the smallest of sighs coming from Hanako's lips.

Ichigo's hand grabbed Orihime's shoulder when he felt his world shift under his feet.

"S-Shiro… I-Ishida's boy…" he repeated in a hollow voice.

"Hello!" someone said from the front door and it was with a dooming feeling that a boy with black hair and blue eyes appeared; a metal cross hanging from a bracelet in his wrist.

"Shiro-kun!" Orihime squeaked like a mouse and when Ichigo's face turned up, the boy felt the waves of reiatsu coming from him.

"I would advise you to run…" Renji said, the corners of his mouth trembling with suppressed teasing.

And when the boy really run, Ichigo ran behind, with Hanako screaming with both of them, Orihime raised a shield to protect the boy, making Renji laugh, Rukia shake her head with mirth and the two new-parents try to calm their baby down, that with all the commotion started crying.

**And** while all that happened, Orihime couldn't stop herself from thinking that they would never be a normal family, with peaceful Sunday lunches and calm vacations. There was always running around, laughs, screams, fights, some zanpakutou in the middle or even the need to call her powers to stop a father from killing his future son-in-law, but even with all that craziness around her, she felt the luckiest person on earth. Her family, all she was able to win with hard work and sacrifices made all that serenity overrated, she choose the madness of her own life over anything else and would walk over flames to protect any of them, especially if it meant keeping all of them together and happy, be it a Shinigami, Healer, Vizard, Quincy, Fullbringer or Human, all of them belonged inside her heart and until her last breathe the Healer would heal, the Protector would protect and the Fighter would win…

Forever and ever…

_The End_

* * *

_**Yes, my dears, it is the end... **_

_**It was an amazing journey, meeting all of you, receive your comments, know what you enjoyed most, bash Aizen together or fawn over Ichigo, love the sweetness of Orihime and the inteligence of Hanako, laugh with Renji and Rukia's antics and cheer Kaoru and Katsuo... And in the end, see our not so traitor former captain end with his true love.**_

_**I hope you all enjoyed the story, that the emotions I tried to convey really touched your heart and that, just like for me, the time we spent together through these words was well spent.**_

_**Love you always,**_

_**FOG**_


End file.
